4Children comment on Welfare Reform Bill

Anne Longfield, Chief Executive of 4Children, said:

“We are very disappointed that the government has chosen to reverse the recent Lords’ amendments which sought to protect families from facing poverty and deprivation. The seven amendments passed by the Lords, were designed to ensure that a move to Universal Credit would not punish the most disadvantaged in society – families with disabled children, single parents seeking maintenance from their ex-partners, and large families trapped in areas of high housing costs.

“The result of ignoring the concerns of Peers, charity groups, disabled people, and parents, often living in poverty, will contribute to a rise in homelessness, a fall in the maintenance secured for the poorest children, and a spike in the number of children living in poverty. 4Children calls on the government to listen to the people who will be affected by these changes, and think again about the impact they will have on families up and down the country.

“If the Prime Minister is serious about delivering a meaningful Family Test and ensuring that this government is “the most family friendly in Europe”, he must re-examine the effects these policies will have on large families unlucky enough to be unemployed during this recession, on people with debilitating disabilities like cancer and Multiple Sclerosis, and on families with disabled children with additional needs.” 

The Child Maintenance Amendment

Peers recently inflicted 7 defeats on the government in the House of Lords when considering the Welfare Reform Bill. These amendments had the following effects:

• Time-limiting contributions based Employment and Support allowance to two years, instead of one;
• Removing the application fee for the Child Support Agency for parents who had taken ‘reasonable steps’ to secure their own arrangements;
• Ensuring the lower rate of DLA for disabled children is no less than 2/3 of the upper rate;
• Exempting Child Benefit from the proposed £26,000 pa benefits cap;
• Protecting young disabled people’s access to Employment and Support Allowance;
• Exempting cancer patients from the contributory ESA limits
• Amending the spare room rates for Housing Benefit to maintain families access to appropriate housing.

The government yesterday reversed all of those changes and used ‘financial privilege’ to ensure that the Lords cannot re-introduce the amendment when the Bill returns to the upper house. It is virtually unprecedented that ‘financial privilege’ be used in this way to prevent proper democratic oversight of the law.

About 4Children www.4Children.org.uk.

4Children is the national charity all about children and families. We have spearheaded a joined-up, integrated approach to children’s services and work with a wide range of partners around the country to ensure children and families have access to the services and support they need in their communities. We run Sure Start Children’s Centres as well as family and youth services across Britain.

We develop, influence and shape national policy on all aspects of the lives of children, young people and families.  As the Government’s strategic partner for early years and childcare we have a crucial role in co-producing policy with the Department of Education and representing the sector’s views and experiences.  Our national campaigns, like Give Me Strength, change policy and practice and put the needs of children and families on the political and policy agenda.

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