Over half a million children to be lifted out of poverty as government unveils historic child poverty strategy
Source: gov.uk (2025-12-05)

Around 550,000 children will be lifted out of poverty by 2030 – the biggest reduction in a single parliament since records began – as the Government launches its Child Poverty Strategy today (Friday 5 December).

- New strategy to lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030 – delivering the largest reduction in child poverty since records began
- Support for working families to stop children growing up in B&Bs, expanding childcare for families on UC and helping parents save up to £500 on baby formula
- Families struggling with the cost of living to benefit from wider support announced at budget including £150 off energy bills, increasing the living wage by £900 a year and removal of two-child limit
- Part of the Government’s plan to deliver more security, opportunity, and respect for every family across the UK
Around 550,000 children will be lifted out of poverty by 2030 – the biggest reduction in a single parliament since records began – as the Government launches its Child Poverty Strategy today (Friday 5 December).

Following the reversal of the two-child limit, the strategy tackles the root causes of poverty by cutting the cost of essentials, boosting family incomes, and improving local services so every child has the best start in life.

The strategy found that children growing up in poverty do less well in school, are more likely to be unemployed when older and earn less throughout their lifetimes. Failure to tackle this problem has been holding back the economy, as well as stifling children’s potential.

New interventions in the strategy include more accessible childcare for working parents on Universal Credit. Childcare costs are one of the biggest barriers for parents who want to work and those starting or returning to jobs can particularly struggle to cover upfront childcare fees before they receive their first payslip. From next year, the rules will change to make it easier for new parents who receive Universal Credit to get back to work by extending eligibility for upfront childcare costs to those returning from parental leave. This will prevent new parents from facing a debt trap meaning more parents can get back to work and get on in work faster. To support more parents with more than two children into work, families who receive Universal Credit will also be able to get support with childcare costs for all their children.

Children living in temporary accommodation are living in one of the deepest forms of poverty, this has a devastating impact, particularly on children. A stay in temporary accommodation increases a child’s experience of family disruption, missed schooling and damage to physical and mental health.

The strategy will also end the unlawful placement of families in Bed and Breakfasts beyond the six-week limit. To support this, the Government is investing £8 million in Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots in 20 local authorities that have the highest use of Bed and Breakfasts for homeless families – continuing the programme for the next three years.

Alongside this, the government will provide £950 million through the fourth and largest round of the Local Authority Housing Fund from April 2026 to deliver up to 5,000 high-quality homes for better temporary accommodation by 2030. Further details will be set out in the upcoming Homelessness Strategy.

A new legal duty will also be introduced for councils to notify schools, health visitors, and GPs when a child is placed in temporary accommodation, so no child is left without support. This enables health and education providers to deliver a more joined up approach to support children experiencing homelessness. The Government will also work with the NHS to end the practice of mothers with newborns being discharged to B&Bs or other forms of unsuitable housing.

The government will also support families with the cost of essentials by helping families to buy more affordable infant formula. The cost of some infant formula brands has risen by 25% in two years, putting pressure on families who cannot or choose not to breastfeed. The government will set clear guidance for retailers that - together with allowing families to use loyalty points, vouchers, and gift cards to purchase formula - could save parents up to £540 in a baby’s first year and remove unnecessary barriers for low-income families.

Taken together, the measures in the strategy will lift 550,000 children out of relative low income at the end of this Parliament, with 7.1 million children seeing household incomes rise, including 1.4 million in deep material poverty – the largest reduction in child poverty by any Government in a single Parliament.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:

Every child deserves the best possible start in life, with their future no longer determined by the circumstances of their birth. Yet too many children are growing up in poverty, held back from getting on in life, and too many families are struggling without the basics: a secure home, warm meals, and the support they need to make ends meet.

I will not stand by and watch that happen, because the cost of doing nothing is too high for children, for families, and for Britain.

This is a moral mission for me. It’s about fairness, opportunity, and unlocking potential. Our strategy isn’t just about reversing the failures of the past, it sets a new course for national renewal, with children’s life chances at its heart.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Pat McFadden said:

Tackling child poverty is an investment in working families and our country’s future.

There is a direct link between children in poverty growing up to be adults not in work, education or training – we cannot afford to waste a generation’s potential and talents.

Our strategy will deliver support where families need it most, giving every child a good start in life and giving them the opportunity to succeed.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:

Child poverty is a stain on our country. I’ve seen the damage poverty does first hand, and bearing down on it sits at the very core of this government’s mission.

This strategy, lifting over half a million children out of poverty, represents an historic moment for generations of families now and into the future.

And whether it’s expanding free school meals, rolling out free breakfast clubs, or revitalising family services, we are determined to give every child the very best start in life.

It comes as the Prime Minister visits a children centre in Wales today with the Welsh First Minister to meet families and children who are set to benefit from the interventions in the strategy. It follows his visit to Glasgow yesterday where he spoke to Child Poverty Campaigners, MSPs, and other key partners to discuss the Government’s strategy to cut child poverty across the UK.

Stacey, from Changing Realities an organisation which has supported the development of the Child Poverty Strategy, discussed her experiences with the Prime Minister in Wales today. She said:

This strategy makes a good start to the essential work of addressing record levels of child poverty in this country. Lifting the two-child limit is a step on the road to investing in our children and our social security system, and can only be a good thing in lifting hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty.

After championing the removal of the two-child limit over the last year, even though my own family won’t benefit it is great to finally feel listened to and knowing the difference this change will make. As a parent who knows first-hand the harm poverty causes, I stand ready and determined to continue the work required to ensure that no child in this country faces poverty. I call on all of us to do the same.

Shortly after the election, the Prime Minister set up the Child Poverty Taskforce to bring together government and experts to explore how Government could use all its available levers to drive down child poverty. This strategy is the first step on our road to ending child poverty and delivers on the commitment to reduce child poverty this parliament.

It comes as child poverty levels in the UK has reached a historic high. Today, 4.5 million children (around 31%) are living in relative poverty after housing costs, 900,000 more since 2010/11. Around 2.6 million children are growing up in households without enough food, and last year 1.1 million relied on food banks. In England alone, more than 172,000 children are living in temporary accommodation and three quarters of children in poverty now come from working families.

Children growing up in poverty are more likely to not be in education, employment or training as an adult, earn less than their peers and less likely to achieve good GCSE results or do well at school. Acting now will cost significantly less than the long-term consequences of poverty. Tackling child poverty is not just a moral imperative – it is an investment in Britain’s future.

That’s why the government is reversing the two-child limit in Universal Credit – a failed policy experiment that punished children and been one of the biggest drivers of hardship since its introduction in 2017.

The majority of families who will gain from the removal of the limit are in work. Around 300,000 children are in poverty directly because of this policy, equivalent to 100 children pushed into hardship every day. Without intervention, 150,000 more would have fallen into poverty by 2030.

Removing the two-child limit is the most cost-effective way to drive down child poverty rates - lifting 450,000 children out of poverty in the final year of this Parliament, rising to 550,000 alongside other measures such as the expansion of free school meals, help with energy bills and the government’s childcare offer.

Priya Edwards, senior research and policy manager at Save the Children UK, said:

Families will be better off under this plan with 7.1 million children seeing their household incomes boosted by the end of this Parliament. Scrapping the two-child limit to benefits, expanding free school meals, and increasing childcare support for families including for those returning to work after maternity leave are bold measures to improve childhoods’ – not the sticking plaster measures of the past.

Ministers involved in creating the strategy listened extensively to children impacted by deep poverty over many months and we hope this way of working is used as a blueprint for creating policy in future that impacts young people.

We welcome this expansive and historic plan, and we look forward to seeing the difference it can make to children’s lives in the years to come.

Dame Clare Moriarty, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice, said:

Child poverty is an issue that blights far too many lives. Government and civil society must work together to prevent children from facing the life-long consequences such hardship brings. The decision to scrap the two-child limit, in particular, is a big step forward that will make a huge and immediate difference to thousands of families.

Working alongside the Child Poverty Taskforce throughout, we’ve welcomed the spirit of partnership that has infused this work. Continuing this deep collaboration will be essential to realising the ambitions of this strategy, and to tackling other social problems the country faces.

For the first time, this government will also target reductions in deep material poverty as part of the strategy, which goes beyond a family’s income, to understand children’s experience of poverty and measures the number of children in the UK who are going without essentials such as three meals a day or growing up in a damp-free home. Two million children (14%) are currently in deep material poverty, lacking at least 4 of 13 essential items.

Additional information:
- The strategy has been developed in partnership with families on a low income across the UK, including through the Changing Realities project, Children’s Commissioners, and Save the Children. Their experiences and contributions are reflected in the strategy.
- Changing Realities is a collaboration of over 200 parents and carers in poverty working in collaboration with researchers at the University of Glasgow and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to push for change.
- The legal duty for councils will be delivered through an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to be considered at Lords report stage.
- The strategy brings together action the government is already taking to drive down child poverty and raise living standards including:
- Creating 3,000 extra places in school nurseries backed by £400 million to give more families access to affordable childcare.
- Expanding 30 hours of free childcare for eligible working parents of children aged nine months to school age – saving families up to £7,500 a year
- Extending free school meals to all children in households on Universal Credit from September 2026, benefiting over 500,000 children
- Funding breakfast clubs in schools across England, with the first 750 schools already delivering 5 million meals
- Transforming crisis support through the £1 billion Crisis and Resilience Fund.
- Delivering up to 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs across every single area in England – backed by £500 million to offer joined-up support for parents and children, including health, education and advice services
- Investing over £600 million in the Holiday Activities and Food Programme providing 500,000 children per year in England with healthy meals and enriching activities during school holidays.
Raising the National Minimum Wage by a further £900 for full-time workers, on top of last year’s record increase worth up to £2,500 a year
- This is a UK-wide strategy, with ministerial roundtables in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales which were attended by ministers of the respective nations, and ministers and officials having visited all the regions of England to meet with key child poverty representatives and visit frontline delivery projects.
- Respecting devolution settlements and complementing work that is already underway in nations and regions is central to this strategy. Each nation has its own distinct devolution settlement which sets out powers to tackle child poverty. These powers vary across nations, with some levers being devolved to the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, while others remain reserved to the UK government.
- Devolved governments also receive funding through the Barnett formula.