Introduction

Taking 60 per cent of median equivalised income and material deprivation as the measure of child poverty as outlined in the introduction, this chapter looks at the state of child poverty nationally in and within the UK and internationally across affluent nations. It explores whether child poverty is increasing or decreasing and, in so doing, looks at the convergence and divergence of policy responses to child poverty to assess what impact they have on its incidence and prevalence. The chapter investigates the risks, causes and consequences of child poverty, the misunderstandings between these, and the effects of such misunderstandings on, for example, government responses. While there are many factors related to child poverty at its root is a fundamental lack of income. This chapter explores the importance of income in understanding child poverty and its effects on children's outcomes.

When we talk about what percentage of children live in poverty, it is easy to think that the same children are in poverty each year. In fact, poverty is dynamic and, while there is a group of people who live in poverty across many years, known as being in persistent poverty, the majority of people living in poverty exit poverty, and each year new people enter into it. This chapter looks at the factors that lead people to fall into poverty, such as a low-wage economy, unemployment and insufficient benefits. This can lead to a low-pay, no-pay cycle that churns different groups of people into and out of poverty over time. The chapter emphasises the importance of income and considers how poor people experience a lack of income, for example in being exposed to financial vulnerability and the poverty premium. It concludes by considering initiatives that maximise family incomes and prevent/reduce poverty asking the reader to flip their thinking on the causes and consequences of child poverty.