Breakfast clubs and no benefit cap Key points from poverty strategy

Keir Starmer has hailed his government's plan to tackle child poverty asa “moral mission”, with a promise to lift half a million children out of hardship.

- Rowena Mason

Itis the first such document in more than a decade and was described by the Resolution Foundation thinktank asa “sea change” in the government’s approach to children in poverty.

The long-awaited document was promised in spring, but delayed as cabinet ministers thrashed out a way to lift the two-child benefit limit on universal credit. It appears to have been worth the wait for many Labour MPs, who are very happy about Rachel Reeves’s announcement at the budget that the cap would go. These are the key points from the strategy and the impact they will have:

Lifting the two-child benefit limit

This is the key plank of the strategy, as it will have by far the biggest and fastest effect. The figures suggest that it will lift 300,000 children out of relative poverty by 2027, rising to 450,000 by 2031. The Resolution Foundation says that there will simultaneously be some poverty producing measures, such as the freeze in local housing allowance, but it still projected 300,000 fewer children living in poverty by the end of the parliament, arguing this would mean “this government’s record would not be that far shy of that achieved by the first Blair administration”.

Extension of eligibility for free school meals

This was announced some time ago but is still a key measure to reduce child poverty. From September next year, more than half a million additional pupils will become eligible for free school meals if they come from a family in receipt of universal credit above the current £7,400 income cap. Existing provision already covers 2.1 million disadvantaged children. Estimates in the child poverty strategy suggest it will help lift 100,000 children out of poverty by 2028.

Free breakfast clubs