The strategy to tackle child poverty has been “characterized by failure”, according to a scathing report from the Executive.

The Executive’s Child Poverty Strategy was initially developed by the Office of the First and Deputy Prime Minister before being passed to the Department for Communities for monitoring and reporting.

The main objectives of the strategy were to reduce the number of children living in poverty and to reduce the impact of poverty on children. It ran from 2016 to 2020 and was extended until May 2022, when it ended.

Since then, no child poverty or anti-poverty strategy has been put in place.

A review of the strategy by the Public Accounts Committee found that it had no impact on child poverty levels, was not sufficiently targeted or funded, did not focus on prevention, that it was not focused on the needs of children and had “unacceptably poor” provisions for accountability.

The committee said a new anti-poverty strategy urgently needed to be developed, adding that delays in implementing the program were “unacceptable”.

The report says there has been little improvement in poverty levels over the life of the strategy, with relative poverty rates hovering around 20%.

The report says it is ‘unacceptable’ that almost 25% of children now live in relative poverty and around 9% live in low-income households who cannot afford basic goods and essential activities.

The committee added that it was “extremely disappointed” that families and children were not at the heart of the Child Poverty Strategy and that the Department seemed “too distant” from people experiencing poverty.

He said the strategy failed in many key areas and said: “We consider the implementation of the child poverty strategy to have been characterized by failure – failure to turn the curve and reduce poverty children, failure to effectively monitor results, failure of collective work and accountability, failure to engage with children and the community and voluntary sectors, and now a
failure to produce a new strategy to combat poverty.

Save The Children has criticized what it described as a “dereliction of duty” over child poverty.

Jerome Finnegan, the organisation’s senior manager of advocacy, policy and strategy, said: “We strongly share the deep concerns expressed in this scathing report about the Government’s failures on child poverty. The absence of any strategy on this subject in recent years, when child poverty has exploded, constitutes a dereliction of duty.

“Here, for one in four children, poverty is an experienced and limiting reality. Energy must now be brought to urgently produce an ambitious strategy to combat poverty with a properly costed action plan.

“The committee has expressed real concern in this report that such a strategy is simply not a priority for the Department for Communities. This, if so, is deeply troubling.

The committee said the department is expected to report by the end of January to confirm a new strategy will be ready to present to the executive by March 31, 2025.

The Committee said it had heard compelling evidence that growing up in poverty has a significant impact on a range of outcomes.

Studies have shown that children in deprived areas are likely to live between the ages of 11 and 15 in poorer health than their more affluent peers, and that children living in poverty are four times more likely to suffer from mental health problems at the age of 11.

Child poverty can also lead to long-term disadvantage. Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to experience poverty as adults, mainly due to lower levels of education, which means it is harder to find well-paid work.

The cost to the public purse of tackling child poverty is estimated at £1 billion a year.