1. St. Cross College, Oxford
Children of Austerity Jonathan Bradshaw, Yekaterina Chzhen and Gill Main
 Roundtable on Austerity and its Consequences: What can interdisciplinary Research Tell us?
St. Cross College, Oxford
4th October, 2017

2. What does the study do?
Examines the impact of the financial/economic crisis and government responses to it on child poverty in industrialized countries
Analyses changes in policy and child poverty in greater depth in Belgium, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States
Brings out policy lessons for protecting children better in the future
Includes contributions from 22 academics across 16 institutions
#ChildrenOfAusterity

3. Child poverty (60% of the median, adjusted for inflation) in 2007/08 and 2013/14 income years
Change ( )
Switzerland
19.5
12.4
-7.1
Poland
22.4
15.3
Norway
9.6
5.0
-4.6
Slovakia
16.7
13.2
-3.5
Austria
18.1
15.6
-2.5
Finland
12.0
9.5
United Kingdom
22.5
20.0
Malta
20.4
19.1
-1.3
Sweden
12.9
11.7
-1.2
Belgium
17.2
16.4
-0.8
Denmark
9.1
8.9
-0.2
Czech Republic
14.2
1.0
Bulgaria
25.5
26.7
1.2
Germany
15.2
16.5
1.3
Japan
21.4
22.7
United States
28.7
30.2
1.5
France
1.6
Estonia
17.1
19.4
2.3
Romania
33.3
36.3
3.0
Netherlands
16.1
3.2
Lithuania
23.3
27.0
3.7
Slovenia
11.6
17.6
6.0
Portugal
22.8
29.3
6.5
Latvia
23.6
30.8
7.2
Italy
24.2
31.6
7.4
Luxembourg
19.8
28.2
8.4
Ireland
18.0
26.5
8.5
Hungary
19.7
9.0
Spain
27.3
39.3
Iceland
11.2
25.9
14.7
Cyprus
14.0
30.3
16.3
Greece
23.0
52.3
Data for the UK from the Family Resources Survey
Data for Japan from the Comprehensive Survey of Living Conditions
Data for the United States from the CPS Annual Social and Economic Supplement
Data for the rest of the countries from the EU-SILC (Eurostat, last update )

4. Per cent change in real per capita spending on family/children and old age benefits (2008-2013)

5. Policy lessons
Protect the incomes of poor families with children through comprehensive and generous child allowances
Countries with more fragmented social transfer systems – such as Greece, Japan, Italy, Spain, and the US – need to fill the gaps in their safety nets
Include social protection, the labour market, education and childcare in a coherent anti-poverty strategy
Countries with more generous safety nets need to address inequalities in pre-transfer incomes and structural problems of low education and inadequate childcare provision
Ensure that young people have the skills necessary to make a successful transition from school to work and independent living

6. UK Social Protection expenditure real terms £billion 2015/16

7. UK Child Poverty rates <60% contemporary median before and after housing costs Source:
The deep recession of 2008–09 did not immediately translate into a rise in child poverty rates. Relative child poverty, based on 60 per cent of contemporary national median income, continued falling between 2007 and This is in part the result of median incomes—and therefore the poverty thresholds—falling during this period. However, the fiscal stimulus in place at that time cushioned the impact of the economic crisis on households with children. Now (see Figure 1) in the last two years for which we have data the relative child poverty rate has begun to rise both before and after housing costs.

8. UK Child Poverty Act 2010 targets
UK Child Poverty Act 2010 targets. Dotted lines show trend needed to meet targets. Source:
The main reasons for this increase in child poverty have been and will continue to be the cuts in in-work benefits. In particular
The freezing of the level of most working age benefits until 2020.
The limits of child tax credits and universal credits to two children only and the many cuts that have undermined universal credit
Cuts in support for housing costs, particularly the bedroom tax and local rent limits.
These have to be set against an improvement in employment such that 67% of children in poverty in the UK now have a parent in employment. The introduction of the increased minimum wage though welcome has not and will not mitigate the cuts in benefits for families with children. As universal credit replaces tax credits it will further reduce the incomes of families with children – especially low income families.
By the mid-1980s the UK had one of the highest child poverty rates in all rich countries. After 1997 it managed to reduce child poverty using employment policies but particularly cash benefits. When the crisis struck in 2008 the Labour Government responded with policies designed to protect families with children. But the Coalition after 2010 adopted austerity measures which especially harmed families with children. Now the Conservative Government since 2015 is reinforcing these measures with a further £12 billion cuts in working age benefits.
The 2010 Child Poverty Act targets have been abandoned and we are no longer on course to achieve any of them (see Figure 2). The UK is set to slide down the international league table. Now the Institute for Fiscal Studies expects relative child poverty to increase from 18.8% in 2014/15 to 26.6% in 2021/22 before housing costs and from 29.0% to 35.7% after housing costs.

9. UK Children Lacking Necessities in 2007/08 and 2015/16Sources: Table 4
UK Children Lacking Necessities in 2007/08 and 2015/16Sources: Table and
Item
2007/08
2015/16 %
Outdoor space or facilities nearby where they can play safely 14 7
Enough bedrooms for every child over 10 of different sex to have his or her own bedroom 16
Celebrations on special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas or other religious festivals 4 2
Leisure equipment (for example, sports equipment or a bicycle) 6
A holiday away from home at least one week a year with his or her family 31 34
A hobby or leisure activity
Friends round for tea or a snack once a fortnight
Going on a school trip at least once a term for school-aged children 5
Play group/nursery/toddler group at least once a week for children of pre-school age 8
The decline in real earnings during the recession and subsequent austerity period was combined with an increase in the cost of necessities. So it is important to monitor deprivation as well as income. Table 1 shows the proportion of children lacking necessities, and Table 2 the proportion of adults living in families with children lacking necessities, in 2007/08 compared to 2015/16. Items are counted as lacking if parents report that children do not have the item because the household cannot afford it (answer options include: children have it; lack it because the parents cannot afford it; or lack it for another reason). Table 1 shows that the proportion of children lacking items has fallen or unchanged in most cases, except a holiday away from home. The same is true in Table 2 except that parents were more likely to lack holidays away from home and insurance for the content of their dwellings. In general what is striking is the lack of any real improvement in living standards over this eight year period.

10. UK Adults in Families with Children Lacking Necessities in 2007/08 and 2015/16
Item
2007/08
2015/16 %
Enough money to keep your home in a decent state of repair 19 18
A holiday away from home for one week a year, not staying with relatives 38 41
Insurance of contents of dwelling 22
Regular savings (of £10 a month) for rainy days or retirement 40
Replace any worn-out furniture 30
Replace or repair broken electrical goods such as refrigerator or washing machine 21
A small amount of money to spend each week on yourself, not on your family 33 32
Keep house warm 9

11. UK Child poverty rates UK Child poverty composition
Before housing costs (BHC)
After housing costs (AHC)
All lone parents 27 47
All couples with children 18 24
Lone parent working full-time 15 29
Couples with children both working full-time 3 5
Couples with children one parent in full-time work 26 37
Before housing costs (BHC)
After housing costs (AHC)
All adults in work 26 29
At least one adult in work, but not all 42 40
Workless households 32
Child poverty rates by working status of parents 2015/16 Table 4: DWP (2017) Households below average income

12. Austerity and children
The cumulative loss since 2010 to £27 bn/year.
The post 2015 cuts by 2021 Beatty, C. & Fothergill, S. (2016)
couples with two or more dependent children will lose £1,450/year,
lone parents with two or more will lose £1,750/year.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies expects UK relative child poverty to increase from 19% in /15 to 27% in 2021/22 before housing costs and from 29% to 36% after housing costs.

13. Long-run impact of planned tax and benefit reforms by income decile and household type % reduction in net household income IFS Briefing Note May 2017

14. Children’s perspectives
Majority of research focuses on adult reports on children’s situations; limited evidence on children’s perspectives on austerity/the financial crisis
Studies into children’s perspectives (e.g. on poverty) tend to reveal complementary accounts to those given by adults, enabling greater insight into the issues facing children and how they are responding
In 2014 The Children’s Society asked 14-year-old children about their impressions of the impact of the crisis (see Bradshaw and Main, 2017)
37% indicated a ‘fair’ or ‘great’ impact (compared to ‘a little’ or ‘not at all) on their family
Deprived children were more likely to report a stronger impact
Children reporting a strong impact of the crisis were much more likely to report their family having less money, less money being spent on them, and hearing more discussions of worry about family money, compared to a year before

15. Children’s perspectives
Fair Shares and Families (Main, forthcoming)
Significant proportions prevented from doing something they wanted (33.5%) or getting something they wanted (49.8%) ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’
26.7% feel embarrassed due to lack of money ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’
Children economise: 24.4% hide their wants from parents; % use old or worn out things; 3.2% steal household items
All these significantly associated with lower income and child deprivation
Children and Food Insecurity (Wilson and Main, forthcoming)
Many children in poor households are aware that their family has inadequate quantity and quality of food
Cheap/free food provision stigmatised – by adults and children
Children experience shame relating to hunger/food aid
Children internalise stigmatising narratives and exclude themselves/others in response to these