The Child Poverty target is underestimating the number of children living in poverty in the United Kingdom. It should be replaced with a new piece of legislation that covers both household income and social poverty factors such as whether a child has been in the care system or lives in poor quality housing.
Outcomes, Not Just Incomes says that nearly one in five children (2.3 million) across the UK are living materially deprived lives and are not included in the government’s headline measure of relative income poverty. This is despite £170 billion of expenditure between 2003 and 2010. Since 1998/9 the increase in net financial support for the poorest households with children amounts to £4,000 a year above inflation.