By Laura Burgess, Head of Policy and Research at Resolve Poverty
It’s hard to believe that this week marks one year since the Labour Party swept to power in a landslide election victory (and a year since we rebranded to Resolve Poverty!), which saw Keir Starmer’s party win a majority of 156 seats. Labour entered office on the promise of ‘Change’, to put the country “on track towards a decade of national renewal”. The manifesto pledged to improve living standards and give children the best start to life, based on the foundation of economic stability. One year into the government’s tenure, how “on track” is the country towards these goals?
The much anticipated Child Poverty Strategy will be the first piece of major national government policy intent on driving down poverty in over a decade. Though originally due to be published in the spring of this year, it has now been delayed until “at least” the autumn. While the government has been guarded about their reasons for the delay, it is rumoured that the Strategy may be published around the time of the next Budget in order to increase the possibility of a partial or total removal of the two-child benefit limit. Keir Starmer has reportedly instructed the Treasury to look at ways of funding its removal, amid much pressure from the anti-poverty sector, which has been unequivocal that scrapping the cap is the most urgent and will be the most effective measure to reduce and prevent child poverty. The government are pressing ahead with the rollout of its school breakfast club programme, and recently committed to extend Free School Meals to all families in receipt of Universal Credit, a move that it is estimated will lift 100,000 children out of poverty – on the assumption that existing and newly-eligible families “opt-in”.
However, at Resolve Poverty, we are clear that the Strategy cannot just be a showcase of headline policies. We’ve recently supported Bolton Council with the development of their own local anti-poverty strategy and we’re currently working with Sunderland City Council to develop a child poverty strategy. The insights gleaned from our work across the country with localities developing their strategic and policy responses to poverty give us a unique insight into role that localities could play in delivering the national mission to end poverty, should they be empowered to do so by central government. The national Child Poverty Strategy must create the conditions for joined-up action across all levels of government, with a Shared Outcomes Framework that provides clear direction, aligns priorities and equips all public bodies with the resources they need to deliver effective action. Local and regional government, along with their VCSE partners, have a crucial role in delivering targeted, preventative responses to poverty that are rooted in the realities of their communities. Their ability to act effectively relies on national government providing the leadership, long-term investment and policy framework required to enable and sustain action at the local level.
The recently announced Crisis & Resilience Fund, replacing Household Support Fund from April 2026, signals a recognition from government that local authorities need more long-term settlements to enable them to effectively support residents impacted by poverty. We eagerly await the publication of the Child Poverty Strategy and look forward to supporting all levels of government with its rollout.
In their manifesto, the government committed to enacting the socio-economic duty, a powerful tool for addressing poverty and creating a fairer society. This duty currently sits within the 2010 Equality Act but hasn’t been enacted. Earlier this week, the consultation on equality law which included several questions on the duty closed, and we are reassured to hear that the government is working hard on scoping evidence to inform implementation and accompanying statutory guidance. While no clear timescales have been set out, we expect enactment to take place in the latter half of 2026. We are working hard with our colleagues in the 1forEquality coalition to ensure that local and regional government, and the whole public sector, understand the scope of the duty in addressing poverty locally and are well-equipped to meaningfully implement it. It has the potential to drive a step-change in how the public sector conceives of, and executes its role in, supporting those experiencing socio-economic disadvantage.
However, these positive signals of intent sit uncomfortably with the more immediate Welfare Bill. The Government’s initial proposal would have pushed a quarter of a million people, including 50,000 children, into poverty. While major concessions on the proposals have been made within the last week, there is still concern that the Government’s approach to social security is based on a misguided premise that health and disability payments leave people ‘trapped on benefits’.
This comes just weeks after the government’s partial U-turn on the Winter Fuel Payment, following significant backlash at the removal of the benefit from most older people last year. The government has tangled itself up with a notion that ‘balancing the books’ necessitates blunt cuts to social security. This wrongheaded approach disregards the huge cost that high levels of poverty place on the exchequer through increased spending on services.
Much has been made of the Prime Minister’s commitments to go “further and faster” to deliver “change”, with many suggesting the government isn’t going far or fast enough, and while the delays to key policy interventions have been a difficult pill to swallow for many working in the anti-poverty sector, it is important to reflect on where we are as a country, one year into the government’s term. At Resolve Poverty, we used to talk a lot about the work that can be done locally “in spite of inaction at a national level” on poverty. For almost a decade-and-a-half, we had governments who actively pursued policies that plunged many people into poverty and responses to the pandemic that failed to protect the most vulnerable. The current government could indeed go further and faster, not least with publishing the Child Poverty Strategy, immediately scrapping the two-child limit and pulling back from proposed disability benefit reforms, and empowering localities with resources and powers to effectively support residents in poverty. That said, we must not lose sight of the positive step that is having a government in office that takes this agenda seriously.
——————————————————————-
This article is featured in our 2 July newsletter.
Want to hear about the latest poverty research, stories and events?
Stay on top of what you need to know. Sign up to our newsletter and join our powerful network of 3.8k+ professionals, volunteers and individuals actively engaged in tackling poverty across the UK.
