Child poverty strategy is hailed as a 'huge step'

A GOVERNMENT plan to reduce child poverty has been welcomed in the North East as a “huge step forward”.

- GRAEME WHITFIELD

Child poverty rates in the region are among some of the highest in the country, growing significantly over the last 10 years.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the Government's new strategy on child poverty “sets a new course for national renewal, with children’s life chances at its heart”.

The Government said failure to tackle child poverty also holds back the economy, with young people growing up in these circumstances doing less well in school, being more likely to be unemployed when older and earning less.

The key move to scrap the controversial two-child benefits limit from April next year - announced in last week's Budget - will result in an estimated reduction of child poverty by 450,000 by 2029/30 at a cost of £3bn. The Government has said combining other measures such as the wider rollout of free school meals means the overall effect of its strategy will be to lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030.