Action for Children Northern Ireland responds to draft Anti-Poverty Strategy
Lorna Ballard, National Director of Action for Children in Northern Ireland, said:
"The Executive’s Anti-Poverty Strategy represents an opportunity to tackle the root causes of child poverty.
"To invest in long term preventative measures reducing the number of children falling into poverty and to make a real difference to families.
"However, the current draft has no clear timebound targets to reduce child poverty and there appears to be no urgency to reduce the shockingly high numbers of children growing up in cold homes, hungry and missing out on opportunities to thrive.
"The Communities Minister has said there will be action plans to underpin this strategy but when will we see these?
"Critically there appears to be no additional funding to implement the strategy. The Public Accounts Committee report in 2024 noted that the previous child poverty strategy had no ring fenced budget which limited departments ability to implement new interventions ultimately limiting the strategy’s effectiveness.
"The Executive must learn from this and not make the same mistake.
"Given the current fiscal position interventions which would make the biggest difference should be prioritised but we also need to recognise that investing to prevent children falling into poverty not only has a massive positive impact on children and families but also on our economy.
"Action for Children are disappointed that this draft strategy does not tackle some of the biggest drivers of child poverty nor sets out clear reduction targets, timescales and actions.
"We will bring forward the voices of children and families living in severe hardship in the consultation process. We hope this will inform the final version. Childhoods are short and precious – we must get this right."
ENDS
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NOTES TO EDITORS:
About Action for Children
Action for Children protects and supports vulnerable children and young people by providing practical and emotional care and support, ensuring their voices are heard and campaigning to bring lasting improvements to their lives. With 372 services in local communities across the UK, in schools and online, in 2023/2024 we helped 687,755 children, young people and families. actionforchildren.org.uk
