Single parent charity welcomes consultation on child poverty legislation

Chief Executive of the Charity Fiona Weir said:

“Putting the commitment to end child poverty by 2020 into legislation will future proof it against changes of Government or the impact of recession, and ensure that child poverty retains the importance it deserves as an issue for Government action.”

The charity stated that it would be pushing Government to accept a more ambitious target than that set out in the consultation.

“The consultation suggests that the ‘eradication’ of child poverty would mean reaching a rate of between 5 and 10 per cent of children below the poverty line. Government has previously said that eradication would mean being among the best in Europe. We know that other countries have achieved poverty rates below 5 per cent, and we’ll be pushing the Government to accept this as the target it must meet.”

The consultation is available at: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/index.cfm