Duncan Smith Announces to Change the Definition of Child Poverty

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The Work and Pensions Secretary, Mr Iain Duncan Smith, has announced to formally change the definition of ‘child poverty’ as the government gears up to attack the current “deeply flawed” child poverty measurement procedure. It was highlighted that child poverty will no longer be calculated as 60 per cent of the average income but through a series of indicators including exam results and whether parents are in work. Mr Duncan Smith unveiled that a new approach has been designed to bring about “meaningful change” in children’s life chances.

On the other hand, the Labour Party attacked it as the “obituary for compassionate conservatism” and said action rather than changing definitions was needed to tackle child poverty. A press release issue by the Labour party stated that “the current child poverty measure – defined as 60 per cent of median income – is considered to be deeply flawed and a poor test of whether children’s lives are genuinely improving,” adding that the government would focus on the “root causes of poverty, not symptoms” and said the current measure had been “criticised for failing children”.

Mr Duncan Smith alleged that the previous measure incorrectly suggested that child poverty was falling while the economy shrunk during the start of the last parliament. He stressed that “eradicating child poverty is an absolute priority for this Government, and I have consistently argued that it is not enough to tackle the symptoms without also tackling the underlying causes” and added that “the measures announced today are the foundation of a new, comprehensive way of addressing poverty and reflect our conviction that work is the best route out of poverty.”