What’s the government doing to tackle child poverty?

About 4.5 million children - around one in three - in the UK are currently below the poverty line.

That’s why last month, the government published its child poverty strategy - a plan to lift around 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson described this as an “historic moment for generations of families now and into the future”.

And prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said tackling child poverty is his “moral mission”.

Nevertheless, some are asking one crucial question - does it go far enough?

What has the government announced so far?

The government has announced several measures that it believes will help it achieve its goal, including:

• increasing access to school meals
• extending funded childcare entitlements to working parents
• investing in family hubs

And significantly, it’s scrapping the two-child benefit cap from April.

Could the child poverty strategy go further?

MPs on the Education and Work and Pensions Committees point out that the child poverty strategy has been broadly supported so far.

But they also note that critics argue it doesn’t have any binding targets.

So the committees will carry out a joint inquiry into the child poverty strategy to see if it can meet the government’s aims.

They’ll ask key questions like:

• is the child poverty strategy ambitious enough?
• what else could be done to boost families’ incomes and help them save money?
• what impact will the strategy have on children with other vulnerabilities, such as those in the care system?
• how will the strategy impact different areas of the UK?

“It is crucial that this strategy contains measures which will genuinely change the lives of children and families and in particular, lift children out of the very deepest poverty, rather than focusing solely on those who are easiest to help,” said Helen Hayes, chair of the Education Committee.

Debbie Abrahams, chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, added: “Nothing less than a robust, clear and effective strategy with strong lines of accountability to drive down child poverty is acceptable.”