The government's child poverty target: how much progress has been made?

Before the 2001 election the Treasury said that `tax and benefit reforms announced in this Parliament will lift over 1.2 million children out of relative povertyҮ But official figures released on 11 April show a smaller fall in child poverty, of only 0.5 million since 1996-97. This commentary attempts to explain the discrepancy. Using the data that lie behind the official Households Below Average Income publications, we analyse trend in child poverty, measured against various poverty lines, since 1979. We show how the government's choice of a relative poverty line is making its goal to abolish child poverty more difficult and more expensive. We also discuss how easy the government will find it to make further reductions in child poverty.