Our Children, Our Future - Tackling Child Poverty
Tuesday 9th December 2025
Our Children, Our Future states that "The impact of child poverty on educational attainment emerges early. By age five, children eligible for free school meals are already five months behind, by age 16 that gap has widened to over 19 months. In families with the lowest incomes just one in four children gets five good GCSEs including English and Maths. For children in the families with the highest incomes, the figure is nearly three in four.
As adults, those who grew up in poverty are more likely to be unemployed or in low-skilled and lower-paid jobs.Of children attending state-funded schools, those who received free school meals earn around 25% less at age 30 than those who did not receive free school meals.
Much, but not all, of this gap can be explained by their success in education. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimate that in the UK, at current rates of social mobility, it could take five generations for a child from the poorest 10% of families to reach the national average income."
This document sets out how government, working with others, will go about tackling the root causes and alleviate the symptoms of child poverty in this parliament and beyond.
Here are some of the points raised in this document.
To strengthen local support to ensure families can access personalised, local services and support, the Government has:
- announced the Pride in Place Programme, which will deliver up to £5 billion funding to 244 of the most in-need places in Great Britain, giving communities the option to invest in measures to address child poverty
- overhauled English local government funding through the first multi-year funding settlement and the Fair Funding Review 2.0, and empowered local government and strategic authorities with the tools they need to prioritise child poverty through the new Outcomes for local government and the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
- announced plans to roll out Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority in England, backed with over £500 million in funding. This will support 500,000 more children
- increased the Early Years Pupil Premium in England by an unprecedented 45% from £388 per child per year to £570, boosting early learning and development
- announced a £1 billion package (including Barnett) for a new Crisis and Resilience Fund (replacing the Household Support Fund) in England, giving councils funding to protect households from falling into crisis
- invested £500 million in the Better Futures Fund in England, breaking down barriers to opportunity for up to 200,000 vulnerable children, young people and their families
- started delivering the school-based nursery programme to create tens of thousands of places in school-based nurseries, helping more families access funded childcare and giving children the best start in life in England
- made available over £2.4 billion for the Families First Partnership programme in England over the multiyear Local Government Finance Settlement to reform children’s social care, and deliver early intervention and support to up to 400,000 families.
Visit Right Choice to download a copy: Our Children, Our Future - Tackling Child Poverty
