The strategy includes crucial policies such as:
- Ending the two-child limit to benefit payments
- Expanding free school meal access to all children and young people in households in receipt of universal credit
- The expansion of Best Start Family hubs to every local authority in England
- Introducing more affordable choices of infant formula for families
However, the strategy does not include binding targets to end child poverty once and for all.
In response to the strategy, RCPCH Officer for Health Improvement, Dr Helen Stewart, said:
The child poverty strategy represents a significant step forward for the health and wellbeing of children and their families. As a college we have long campaigned for the expansion of free school meals, the removal of the two-child benefit limit and cost saving policies for families. The measures announced will help the Government lift thousands of children out of poverty.
Paediatricians know that the link between poverty and health is undeniable, so we are also pleased to see that reflected within the strategy, with the challenges lower-income families face when accessing healthcare being acknowledged.
However, it is our feeling that without ambitious binding targets, this strategy falls short of ensuring no child grows up in poverty. Poverty is not an inevitability, but a political choice. If the Government truly wants to create the healthiest generation of children ever then it will need to go much further and remove child poverty from our society once and for all.