Defining the eradication of child poverty in the Child Poverty Bill

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Defining the eradication of child poverty in the
Child Poverty Bill
Danielle Mason and Natalie Abbott Presentation
at DCSF Conference The Use of Evidence in Policy
Development and Delivery, 9 February 2010
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• Introduction
• Measuring Child Poverty
• The Story of the Bill
• Lessons Learned

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Introduction
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Being poor should not be a life sentence. We
need to sow the seeds of ambition in the young.
Our historic aim will be for ours to be the first
generation to end child poverty, and it will take
a generation. It is a 20 year mission but I
believe it can be done. Tony Blair, 1999
Beveridge Lecture
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The Child Poverty Unit

• Established in 2007
• Joint unit across Department for Work and
  Pensions, Department for Children Schools and
  Families and HM Treasury
• Intended to improve cross-government work towards
  the target to halve child poverty by 2010 and
  eradicate it by 2020
• Tasked with delivery of the Child Poverty Bill

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The Child Poverty Bill

• The Bill enshrines in legislation the
  Government's commitment to eradicating child
  poverty within a generation
• It sets legislative targets for child poverty
  levels which must be met by 2020
• This means that the Bill must define how child
  poverty levels are to be measured
• The Government uses survey statistics to measure
  child poverty

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The central challenge

• has been to find legal language and instruments
• which enable us to define in law
• the survey and analysis methods used to create
  child poverty statistics

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Task 1!Defining measurements in law

• Which words and phrases in this clause need
  further definition to make the legislation
  robust?

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Measuring child poverty
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So, how do we measure child poverty?

• DWPs 2003 consultation Measuring Child Poverty
  examined how child poverty should be defined and
  monitored by government.
• DWP concluded that the following three measures
  were needed to provide a rounded definition of
  child poverty
• Relative low-income
• Absolute low-income
• Material deprivation and low-income
• In addition, DWP report annually on rates of
  persistent low-income for children

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Relative low income
The measure
Why it is important
The indicator Children in households with an
income below 60 of contemporary median income
before housing costs. What it measures It
captures whether the incomes of the poorest
families keep pace with the rest of
society. What survey we use Family Resources
Survey.
Low income is the most commonly used measure of
poverty, as it provides a broad indication of the
living standards of families. Evidence suggests
low income, in and of itself, impacts on life
chances. When children fall too far behind the
typical family, not able to take a full part in
the activities that social inclusion demands.
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Absolute low income
The measure
Why it is important
The indicator Children in households with an
income below 60 of 1998/99 median income before
housing costs (up-rated in line with inflation).
What it measures Captures whether low income
families see their real incomes increase over
time. What survey we use Family Resources
Survey.
It tells us what is happening to real incomes
whether the incomes of the poorest are rising in
absolute terms, not just in comparison to the
incomes of typical families. It can be used as a
yardstick by which to assess progress for the
poorest of all.
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Relative low income and material deprivation
The measure
Why it is important
The indicator Children in households that are
both materially deprived and have an income
below 70 of contemporary median income before
housing costs. What it measures This captures
whether families living standards are
improving. What survey we use Family Resources
Survey.
Captures living standards more directly. Deprivat
ion measures resonate well with the public
perception of poverty and the view that a poverty
measure should encompass some idea of the
practical effects of living in low
income. Strong relationship between material
deprivation and persistent low income as the
time spent in low income increases, the severity
of deprivation increases.
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Persistent low income
The measure
Why it is important
The indicator Children in households in relative
low income for at least 3 of the last 4
years. What it measures Captures the proportion
of children who experience low income over the
long-term. What survey we use Previously the
British Household Panel Survey, which was
subsumed in 2009 within a new longitudinal
survey, Understanding Society.
The length of time a child is in poverty and how
often it recurs can have a significant
detrimental impact on their experiences and life
chances. Children who live in persistent poverty
are more likely than those who experience
temporary poverty to be at risk of worse
outcomes. Lower chance of escaping low income as
the length of time in poverty increases.
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The Story of the Bill
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The story of the Bill

• The Team
• Consultation document
• Content of the Bill
• Definitions and Regulations
• Commons
• Lords

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Story of the Bill 1 the team

• Bills are usually co-ordinated by a central Bill
  team, with policy leads who advise on the content
• Lawyers then work with Parliamentary Counsel to
  draft the legislation ensuring it reflects the
  policy intent
• For this Bill, it was clear that some of the
  policy leads would need to be analysts
• It was also necessary to consult with
  statisticians and analysts in DWP and ONS about
  the Family Resources Survey

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Story of the Bill 2 consultation

• The consultation paper Ending Child Poverty,
  Making it Happen was published early last year
• It asked whether the measures of child poverty
  currently used were the right ones for the Bill,
  for example, whether an absolute measure of
  poverty should be included
• Responses also provided views on a range of other
  possible indicators

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Story of the Bill 2 consultation

• Overall conclusions
• It is important to measure income poverty and
  material deprivation
• A measure of absolute poverty should be retained
  and is useful in time of recession
• We should also measure persistent poverty
• We also consulted internal analysts and external
  experts
• So, the Bill contains four poverty targets
• Relative low-income (less than 10)
• Absolute low-income (less than 5)
• Material deprivation and low-income (less than
  5)
• Persistent low-income (target to be defined)

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Story of the Bill 3 drafting the content

• Some challenges
• Incorporating very detailed and complicated
  definitions into the legislation (e.g. income)
• Ensuring that the legislation could take into
  account future changes in the survey methodology
  (e.g. extension of coverage)
• Accounting for the fact that one of the surveys
  didnt have any data yet!
• The solution?
• Regulations, Regulations, Regulations!

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Story of the Bill 4 regulations

• So, we used regulations to present detailed and
  complex definitions, and definitions which might
  change with survey methodology
• We then needed to draft regulations based on the
  survey
• For example, we used the survey questions and the
  survey analysis procedures to draft a definition
  of income which matched the definition used by
  the survey
• Challenge
• Survey guidance does not have to account for
  every single eventuality, but the law should

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Story of the Bill 5 communicating the Bill

• Because the Bill includes a lot of technical
  definitions, we had to take particular care that
  the intent and effect of the Bill were
  communicated clearly to stakeholders
• Meeting with the child poverty lobby
• Draft regulations and briefing papers for
  Parliamentarians
• Explanatory notes

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Communicating the Bill in action
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Story of the Bill 6 Commons Committee

• Challenge using analysis to explain the focus of
  the Bill
• During committee stage there was a lot of debate
  about the importance of tackling the causes of
  poverty
• For example, lone parenthood was cited as a cause
  of child poverty, and therefore something to be
  addressed by the Bill
• To be able to respond to this, we needed to
  understand and interpret analysis which had been
  carried out on the subject
• Correlation does not imply causation!

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Story of the Bill 6 Commons Committee
Results of the cross-OECD meta-analysis suggest
that the maximum size of the effect on child
outcomes of growing up in a single-parent family
is smallThe general thrustis that the causal
effects of being raised in a single parent family
are smaller than hitherto believed, or even
zero. From Doing Better for Children OECD, 2009
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Story of the Bill 6 Commons Committee

• Challenge using analysis to explain the
  definitions in the Bill
• People have intuitive beliefs about what poverty
  means
• Technical definitions of poverty can sometimes
  conflict with these, and for good reason
• At committee stage concerns were raised that our
  material deprivation measure did not sufficiently
  capture poor housing, which some members felt was
  an essential element of material deprivation

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Task 2!Defining material deprivation

• We use a list of 21 items to assess whether a
  household is experiencing material deprivation
• What items do you think should be included on
  this list?
• Write down 5 items

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Task 2!Defining material deprivation

• Adult questions
• A holiday away from home for at least one week a
  year, whilst not staying with relatives at their
  home
• Have friends or family around for a drink or meal
  at least once a month
• Two pairs of all-weather shoes for each adult
• Enough money to keep your home in a decent state
  of decoration
• Household contents insurance
• Regular savings of 10 a month or more for rainy
  days or retirement
• Replace any worn-out furniture
• Replace or repair major electrical goods such as
  a refrigerator or a washing machine, when broken
• A small amount of money to spend each week on
  yourself, not on your family
• Adult has a hobby or leisure activity

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Task 2!Defining material deprivation

• Child questions
• A family holiday away from home for at least one
  week a year
• Enough bedrooms for every child of 10 or over to
  share their bedroom only with siblings of the
  same sex
• Leisure equipment such as sports equipment or a
  bicycle
• Celebrations on special occasions such as
  birthdays, Christmas or other religious festivals
• Swimming at least once a month
• Friends around for tea or a snack once a
  fortnight
• Child has a hobby or leisure activity
• Toddler group/nursery/playgroup at least once a
  week
• Go on school trips
• Outdoor space or facilities nearby to play safely
• Prevalence-weighted approach
• Set of items which best distinguishes those
  families with poor living standards

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Story of the Bill 7 Lords Committee

• We are currently in Lords Committee
• There has been a lot of debate about the quality
  of the data
• A recent Institute of Fiscal Studies report
  concluded that towards the very bottom of the
  income distribution, income is not a good
  indicator of living standards

the measure of income seems pretty dubious if
you read the IFS reportThis report
findshouseholds with children on the lowest
income do not have the lowest average living
standards. Lord Freud, Extract from Hansard
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Story of the Bill 7 Lords Committee

• How did we respond?
• We have always acknowledged that the very bottom
  of the income distribution is less reliable
• We have a combined low-income and material
  deprivation measure which the IFS report regards
  as a suitable solution

Another alternative would be to use those
households who had both a low income and a low
living standard This can be seen as a pragmatic
compromise, which seeks to reduce the
inaccuracies that arise from using a single
measure but it also has some conceptual or
theoretical justification From The living
standards of families with Children reporting low
incomes, IFS 2009
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Lessons Learned

• Limitations of law, of data
• Analysis can (sometimes) win arguments
• Communication is key
• Five heads are better than one

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The end

• Contacts
• Danielle Mason
• 020 7340 7613
• Danielle.mason_at_childpovertyunit.gsi.gov.uk
• Natalie Abbott
• 020 7783 8069
• Natalie.abbott_at_childpovertyunit.gsi.gov.uk