1/5 children in relative poverty likely to enjoy 11 to 15 fewer years in good health

This is a key finding of a report published by Comptroller and Auditor General Dorinnia Carville this morning.

Today’s report on Child Poverty in Northern Ireland considers the effectiveness of the 2016-22 Child Poverty Strategy and its impact on outcomes for children. T

The report sets out a lack of significant progress on the main child poverty indicators, with around 20 per cent of children here living in

relative poverty before housing costs, and between 7 and 9 per cent living in low-income households that cannot afford basic goods and essential activities.

The report highlights that children in deprived areas are expected to live 11 to 15 fewer years in good health than their more well-off peers, and that children receiving Free School Meals are twice as likely to leave school with no GCSEs.

Despite these serious impacts, the report finds that the Child Poverty Strategy set no clear targets for poverty reduction, nor was there any ring-fenced budget attached to it.

It also notes a lack of focus on early intervention and preventative actions.

Ms. Carville said: “Northern Ireland has not had a strategy to deal with child poverty for almost two years, during a cost-of-living crisis. A failure to tackle child poverty early and effectively risks lifelong impacts to children’s health, education and general development.

"There is also a considerable cost to the public purse, with previous estimates indicating costs of child poverty to be between £825 million and £1 billion annually.

“The Executive has committed to producing a new anti-poverty strategy. Today’s report offers a valuable opportunity to learn lessons for the

development of this new strategy.

"These lessons include the need to focus on specific, long-term and preventive targets to save public money in the future. Early intervention, which reduces the number of children in poverty who become adults in poverty, could reduce future economic and social costs significantly.

"It is also important that the delivery of these actions is supported with clear accountability arrangements and a move away from silo working towards a truly collaborative cross-departmental approach to tackling this challenging but vitally important issue.”

2,980 children in 870 Derry homes affected by 2-child cap on Universal Credit