A new report by children's charity, Unicef warns that government spending cuts will reverse the progress made on child poverty.
The report on 35 wealthy countries says the UK did better than many
others at protecting children from the impact of the global financial
crisis. It highlights the UK's success in reducing child poverty to
date, saying it is linked to the previous Labour government's focus on
increasing household income.
Tax credits, cash transfers and accessible public services played a
key role in reducing child poverty in the UK and protecting children
from deprivation, it finds. Even though the UK missed its own targets to reduce the
number of children living in poverty to 1.7m in 2010, it still saw one
of the largest reductions following government intervention, it says.
Unicef chief executive David Bull said: "The UK should be proud that
our commitment to end child poverty by 2020 in the past has seen a clear
improvement in reducing child poverty and protecting vulnerable
children from deprivation.
"However, we know that the number of children living in poverty in the UK is set to increase due to spending cuts.
"This will be a catastrophic blow to the futures of thousands
of children, putting at risk their future health, education and chances
of employment."
You can read more on this story on the BBC News site here: Global Cuts Will Reduce Spending On Child Poverty.
The full report: Report Card 10: Measuring Child Poverty is available to download here.
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