Reducing child poverty in England would significantly improve children’s health and reduce health inequalities

Renewed efforts to reduce child poverty in England between now and 2033, such as abolishing the two-child limit on child benefit, would significantly strengthen several aspects of child health and reduce health inequalities across the country, according to a report research published online in The Guardian magazine. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Tackling it would substantially reduce child deaths and the number of children in care, as well as child nutritional anemia and emergency admissions, with the most deprived regions, especially in the North East, benefiting most, the forecasts show.

It would likely have other beneficial consequences for local government and health care, the researchers suggest.

Child poverty is a key determinant of public health and health inequalities. Experience of child poverty is associated with poorer outcomes on a wide range of health indicators in the early years of life, with evidence suggesting that these links are often causal, the researchers explain.

Countries such as Britain, which opted for austerity in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, have seen worse trends in child health care than countries that maintained or increased their social spending, they add. Furthermore, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing cost of living crisis have increased concerns about rising child poverty in Britain, in the absence of government policies specifically addressing this, the researchers say.

Such policies include targeted measures to supplement income, such as the child tax credit and child benefit increases (without a “two-child limit”), along with other measures to improve early childhood services, such as Sure Start programs.

The researchers therefore assessed the potential impact of three different child poverty reduction targets on children’s health outcomes and inequality in England over the next decade, based on outcomes linked to childhood poverty and deprivation, and for which official data was available.

These include infant mortality; children who end up in local care (looked after children); hospital admissions due to nutritional anemia in children; and emergency admissions to the children’s hospital for any reason.

Child poverty was defined as the proportion of children under the age of 16 living in families with incomes below 60% of the contemporary national average.

The researchers calculated relative, absolute (per 100,000) and total (per total population) annual changes for these outcomes between 2024 and 2033 for: an overall reduction in child poverty by 15%, defined as low aspiration; a reduction of 25%, defined as average ambition; and a reduction of 35%, defined as high ambition.

The researchers considered these figures to be realistic in light of the 26% fall in the prevalence of child poverty in Britain between 1997 and 2010 under a previous Labor government.

In 2023, the prevalence of child poverty in England, as shown in data from 145 upper level local authorities (county councils), was just under 21%.

Their projections showed that all three goals would significantly improve children’s health. But increasingly ambitious targets corresponded to greater benefits, with orders of magnitude for the high ambition reduction target being around double those for the low ambition target for all four outcomes.

If the high ambition target is met, the total number of child deaths is expected to decrease by 293; 4,696 children entering care; hospital admissions for nutritional anemia with 458; and the number of emergency admissions in children between 2024 and 2033 by 32,650.

This compared to 155 fewer child deaths; 2,483 fewer children going to daycare; 242 fewer hospital admissions due to nutritional anemia; and 17,266 fewer emergency admissions for children due to achieving the low ambition target.

England’s northern regions, especially the North East, could benefit most, as would the country’s most deprived areas if the high ambition reduction target were met, the forecasts show.

Here, total child deaths are expected to fall by 126, compared with a fall of 71 among the least deprived between 2024 and 2033.

Similarly, 1,907 fewer children would be expected to enter care (vs. 1,199), there would be 189 fewer admissions per year due to nutritional anemia (vs. 117) and 13,302 fewer emergency admissions for children (vs. 8,322) in the least deprived areas.

Although these figures are projections and not actual numbers, they are based on few assumptions and realistic goals, the researchers say. But they acknowledge that only four indicators of child poverty were used and that emergency admissions may be affected by access to healthcare.

Nevertheless, they suggest: “These cuts [in child poverty] would likely translate into significant savings for – and relieve pressure on – local authorities (in relation to child care) and healthcare services. The benefits are likely to be greatest in the most deprived areas, allowing efforts to be taken to the next level. Other health impacts that we have not been able to quantify are also likely.”

They conclude: “We emphasize that if policymakers were to set and achieve child poverty targets for England – for example through proposed measures such as abolishing the two-child limit and benefit cap – this would be likely to improve children’s health, especially among the most vulnerable groups. socio-economically disadvantaged and ‘level-up’ regional inequalities.”