3 Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood The changing face of early childhood in the UK

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3 Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood The changing face of early childhood in the UK
Authors
                      Carey Oppenheim
                      Christopher Milton

3 Changing
patterns of poverty
in early childhood
The changing face
of early childhood
in the UK
Contents

  Overview and summary					2

  Scope and methodology					7

1 The scale of child poverty and
  deprivation today—a snapshot				9

2 Why is poverty an essential lens to
  understand early childhood today?			              13

3 How has public policy addressed
  early childhood poverty?					19

4 The patterns and causes of poverty
  have become more complex					25

5 COVID-19 and its implications for
  poverty in early childhood					40

6 Conclusions								42

  References								46

  Annex									51

  Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
The changing face of early childhood series

The changing face of early childhood,               •    Review 1 – How are the lives of families
is a series of short reviews, events and                 with young children changing?
engagement that seeks to generate                   •    Review 2 – Protecting children
an informed debate on early childhood                    at risk of abuse and neglect
based on what the collective evidence               •    Review 3 – Changing patterns
tells us. The series draws on over                       of poverty in early childhood
80 studies funded by the Nuffield                   •    Review 4 – The role of early education
Foundation and undertaken by                             and childcare provision in shaping
multidisciplinary researchers working                    life chances
in universities, research institutes, think         •    Review 5 – Are young children
tanks and other organisations, as well                   healthier than they were two
as other key studies. The research is                    decades ago?
wide-ranging, reflecting the interests              •    Review 6 – Parents and the home
of the research community, as well as               •    Conclusion – Bringing up the
the Foundation’s priorities.                             next generation: priorities and
        Our approach is designed to be                   next steps
holistic, bringing together perspectives
from different disciplines and vantage              Points for discussion are included
points. We want to involve researchers,             throughout the series; these include
policy makers, and practitioners to help            insights, thorny issues and dilemmas,
us explore the issues, develop evidenced-           and research gaps. We value your
informed recommendations and identify               input on these points, and on
gaps in the evidence. The final report              the series as it progresses, and
will draw on the insights provided by               the responses we receive will inform
our readers and contributors over the               the concluding review. You can provide
course of the series.                               feedback on this review via our website:
        This review, the third in the series,       www.nuffieldfoundation.org/contact/
explores changing patterns of poverty               feedback-changing-face-of-early-
in early childhood.                                 childhood-series

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
Changing                                                                                                                     2

                                                                                                                           The changing face of early childhood in the UK
          patterns of poverty
          in early childhood
          Overview and
          summary

          About this review
             The changing face of early childhood series           poverty is particularly urgent in the context
             explores how young children’s lives have              of the COVID-19 pandemic, which in
             been changing over the last two decades.              many areas has intensified pre-existing
             Two key themes run through the series:                inequalities as well as generating new ones.
             the implications of the changing nature                      Poverty and its changing nature
             of family life and family structures for the          are an essential lens through which to
             economic security, development and well-              understand early childhood today for
             being of young children; and inequalities             three reasons.
             between children. This review sets out to
             explore a key aspect of inequality—the                1    At 36%, the rate 2 of poverty among
             changing patterns of poverty, in particular                families where the youngest child is
             for young children under five, over the                    under five is high—and increasing
                        last two decades. In 2019/20                    (DWP 2021). In this review, we
                        4.3 million children were living in             undertake original data analysis
Note to the reader:     relative poverty 1 —a barometer                 to illuminate patterns of poverty
Inline references       of social injustice in the UK                   in families with a young child.
that are underlined
are those funded
                        today (Department for Work and
by the Nuffield         Pensions (DWP) 2021). Addressing
Foundation.

          1     All terms in bold italic (at first mention in each section) are defined in the Key terms on page 8.
          2     We use rate and risk of poverty interchangeably to denote the proportion of the specified population who
                are in poverty.

          Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
2 Experiencing poverty at the start                     Family life has become more complex—                      3
  of life and in early childhood can                    economically, socially, culturally—

                                                                                                       The changing face of early childhood in the UK
  be highly damaging, with potentially                  and more unequal. Policy responses,
  profound effects on children’s long-                  if they are to be durable, need to reflect
  term well-being and opportunities.                    the combined effects of these different
                                                        factors on young children’s lives.
3 The causes, patterns, and solutions                           In this review, we highlight key
  to poverty have become more                           insights from work the Nuffield Foundation
  complex and interlinked over the                      has funded and explore the implications
  last two decades. Disruptive forces,                  of current changes, including the
  such as a rapidly changing economy                    impact of COVID-19, on young children’s
  and labour market, increasing levels                  lives. We set these new insights in
  of in‑work poverty, more complex                      the context of existing evidence by
  family structures, structural inequalities            synthesising and critically appraising
  between ethnic groups, and differences                a large body of evidence, and highlighting
  by place have changed the contexts                    connections and tensions, as well as
  in which young children are growing up,               gaps and uncertainties.
  as well as their life chances.                                Where the word ‘poverty’ is used
                                                        in the text, this refers to relative poverty
Poverty is about both economic                          defined as those living below 60%
disadvantage and the tangled pressures                  of contemporary median income, after
that can influence the responses and                    housing costs, unless stated otherwise
behaviours of those caught within it.                   (see Key terms).

Key learning

Children are at greater risk of poverty                 health and well-being of parents and
than the population as a whole                          their socioeconomic status. These
In the UK in 2019/20, 31% of all children3              early disadvantages can go on to
(4.3 million) were living in poverty                    affect children’s cognitive skills and
compared to 22% of the whole population.                their physical, social, and emotional
Poverty among families where the youngest               development throughout childhood and
child is under five is even higher—in                   adulthood. Being ready to start school
2019/20, 36% fell into this group affecting             is one clear illustration of this—the gap
some 2.2 million children (DWP 2021).                   between advantaged and disadvantaged
                                                        children achieving a ‘good level
Gaps between children emerge early                      of development’ as measured by
The harm that poverty can inflict begins                the Early Years Foundation Stage
at conception and is shaped by the                      Profile (EYFSP) at the age of five stood

3    HBAI (DWP) defines ‘children’ as an individual aged under 16 or aged 16–19 and dependent.

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
at 17.8 percentage points in 2019. Following        the resilience, strength and skills employed                4
some improvements between 2013 and                  by families that live in poverty to give their

                                                                                                     The changing face of early childhood in the UK
2017, progress in narrowing the gap has             children the best life possible (Brewer and
now stalled.                                        Patrick 2021).

Poverty can be highly detrimental                   There have been major shifts in how
if it is persistent and experienced                 public policy has addressed early
in the first three years of life                    childhood poverty
Poverty influences young children’s                 Policy responses to child poverty since
lives directly through parents or carers            1996/97, shaped by socioeconomic
not having enough money to meet their               circumstances and changing political
children’s material and social needs, as well       priorities, have tried to grapple with the
as indirectly by generating psychological           complex new pressures facing families
stress and other pressures. These shape             with young children with varying degrees
the relationships and interactions within           of success. These changing priorities,
the family, including parenting, which in           in combination with the complex shifts
turn influence children’s development               in policy, are reflections of why the core
and well‑being.                                     solutions to child poverty are difficult
          For children growing up in poverty        to fully realise and maintain.
the experience can be pervasive, affecting                   Public policy responses have tended
what and how much they eat, what they               to fall into two broad approaches: reducing
wear, the space and warmth of their homes,          pressures on families, and increasing their
places and opportunities to play, access            capabilities (Eisenstadt and Oppenheim
to the internet, holidays and educational           2019). Policies range from tackling income
opportunities. Children are also affected           poverty at source through financial
by the stresses and strains in family               transfers, parental employment and
relationships, generated by poverty and             education, and/or addressing the mediating
debt, as parent(s)/carers try to manage             factors such as mental health support
on very limited funds.                              for parents, parenting interventions, and
          The experience of poverty can also        quality early years provision and services.
limit young children’s later opportunities and      This review identifies approaches that have
life chances. This is not to say that parental      worked in the past and provide a guide
economic disadvantage inevitably leads              to what may work in the future.
to poor long-term outcomes for children;                     There is however limited evidence
other factors such as family circumstances,         that enables a systematic approach
capabilities, histories, ethnic background,         to understanding the effectiveness
parental education, wider kinship and               of different policy options over the
social support networks, and local contexts         medium and longer term and the optimal
all play a role. For example, a study by            use of public resources to address
Kiernan and Mensah (2011) found that 58%            early childhood poverty in the round.
of children who experienced persistent
poverty and strong parenting skills had             Child poverty has been on the rise since
good child outcomes at age five. This is not        2013/14—and patterns are changing
necessarily a causal relationship; there may        Over the past 20 years, relative child
be other factors at play, such as parental          poverty rates have fluctuated significantly,
mental health. Recent research on the               falling overall between 1999/00 and
impact of the pandemic shines a light on            2019/20, but with a notable increase since

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
2013/14 (DWP 2021). This rise in poverty            a three-year average between 2017                             5
has been steeper for families where                 and 2020, 71% of children in families

                                                                                                       The changing face of early childhood in the UK
the youngest child is under five, rising            of Bangladeshi origin with a young
from 30% in 2013/14 to 36% in 2019/20               child were living in poverty. In many
(Stewart and Reader 2021; DWP 2021).                other minority ethnic groups, over
         A growing proportion of parents—           50% of families were living in poverty.
both lone parents and couples—remain                44% of children growing up in families
in poverty even though they are in paid             with the youngest child under five, where
employment, and despite increases in                an adult or child has a disability, were
the minimum wage (Vizard and Hills 2021).           in poverty in 2019/20. (DWP 2021).
This reflects both reductions in in-work                    There is limited analysis of the
benefits/tax credits for this group (Hick           intersection of these different risks
and Lanau 2017; Cooper and Hills 2021)              of poverty, though we know that some
and the changing nature of the labour               groups of children experience multiple
market, including the growth of precarious          disadvantage, which is more detrimental
and atypical work. Over the past 20 years,          to their life chances. It is the combination
the rate of poverty for families with the           of poverty and wider forms of deprivation
youngest child aged under five and at               that poses the greatest risk to young
least one adult in work has increased               children’s development (Schoon et al. 2013).
by 16% (DWP 2021).
         Changes in family structure also           There are signs of an intensification
have implications for patterns of poverty.          of poverty over the last two decades
The proportion of lone parent families              Analysis by the Social Metrics Commission
in poverty has reduced over the last two            (SMC) shows there has been a small
decades, but remains much higher than for           increase in the proportion of all children
couple families with children. The risk of          living in deep poverty (that is, below 50%
poverty for children in cohabiting couples          of the SMC poverty line) than in earlier
is also higher than those living with parents       years (2020). Families with children are also
who are married or in civil partnerships.           more likely to be living in persistent poverty
The risk of poverty for families with three         than other groups and 20% of families with
or more children has been growing since             children are living in deep and persistent
2013/14, but has decreased for families with        poverty (SMC 2020). There has been
one or two children. (DWP 2021).                    a significant rise in destitution (not having or
         Comparing regions in England,              being able to afford the absolute essentials)
over a three-year average between                   in the UK since 2017, affecting 550,000
2017 and 2020, the North East had                   children in 2019 (Fitzpatrick et al. 2020).
the highest rates of child poverty in
households with the youngest child under            COVID-19
five, followed by London, and the South             The outbreak of COVID-19 and its health,
West the lowest. Moreover, over the last            economic and social consequences have
20 years, families with a young child               had profound implications for all young
in the North and Midlands—the focus                 children, but especially those growing up
of the government’s policy on ‘left-behind’         in low-income families and those whose
areas—have seen considerably less                   parents have lost their jobs or had their
improvement in poverty rates (DWP 2021).            earnings reduced or faced rising costs
         Some groups of children face               during the lockdown (Brewer and Patrick
extremely high rates of poverty. Over               2021). The Legatum Institute (2020)

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
estimated that by the winter of 2020,               closure and disruption to childcare,                       6
COVID-19 had drawn an additional                    early years settings and reception

                                                                                                    The changing face of early childhood in the UK
690,000 people into poverty, including              classes, combined with home-learning,
120,000 children. The same analysis also            has had a detrimental impact on
showed that the government’s benefit/tax            disadvantaged children, and particularly
credit measures had protected a further             language development, which has
690,000 people from falling into poverty.           widened existing gaps in educational
COVID-19 has profoundly disrupted                   and social development (Andrew et al.
the contexts in which young children                2020; Ofsted 2020; Bowyer‑Crane
develop, learn and play. The partial                et al. 2021).

Addressing poverty in early childhood
Based on the evidence considered                    •    Harnessing effective national and local
in this review, we believe addressing                    approaches to address concentrations
early childhood poverty requires                         of poverty and deprivation.
six key elements.                                   •    A better understanding of the relative
                                                         effectiveness (and costs) of different
•   A multi-dimensional approach that                    policies in improving children's
    reflects the range of socioeconomic                  outcomes over the medium and
    risks and intersecting needs faced                   longer terms.
    by families with young children.                •    Developing a greater consensus, not
•   A financial bedrock for families with                only across political divides, but also
    young children living on a low income,               at a societal level, on the measures and
    through improved social security                     investment required to address child
    benefits and access to employment,                   poverty now and in the future.
    which takes account of the care needs
    of the under fives.
•   Greater attention and investment in
    policies to support parental mental
    health and parenting from the earliest
    stage of a child’s life.

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
Scope and                                                                                                               7

                                                                                                            The changing face of early childhood in the UK
methodology
This review focuses on changing patterns                        child poverty is a demanding target
of poverty, in particular for young children,                   as incomes for those in poverty have
who we define as those under the age of                         to rise faster than median incomes.
five. Socioeconomic circumstances—                         •    Absolute child poverty is a lower
income, social class and educational                            threshold, which is fixed in real
background—each affect children’s                               terms—it is a minimum benchmark.
outcomes. This review has a particular                          Public policy, at the very least, should
emphasis on income poverty, but also                            be aiming to reduce absolute levels
addresses related issues of deprivation                         of poverty. However, during periods
and disadvantage.                                               of slow economic growth or major
        We draw principally on the DWP’s                        economic disruption, reducing absolute
Households below average income                                 levels of poverty is more challenging.
(HBAI) statistics, as it is the main source
used in research funded by the Nuffield                    Our focus is primarily on the UK as
Foundation. It is supplemented by analysis                 a whole, though we touch briefly on
drawn from the Social Metrics Commission                   differences in the extent of child poverty
(SMC), which has developed an improved                     between nations and regions. There is not
measure of poverty, as well as other studies.              sufficient space within this review to do
Drawing on HBAI, we primarily focus on                     justice to the different approaches within
measures of relative poverty, but we also                  the devolved administrations. Similarly,
include data on absolute child poverty.                    there is only brief discussion of the voices
In both cases we use ‘after housing costs’                 and views of families who are living in
measures as housing is both an inescapable                 poverty themselves. While the Nuffield
cost and constitutes a large component                     Foundation has begun to fund research in
of expenditure for low-income families.                    this area, it is fairly limited. In both cases
                                                           we refer readers to other sources. 4
•   Relative child poverty tells us about                          This review is designed to be an
    how children are faring in relation to the             informative, rather than all encompassing,
    living standards of society as a whole—                review of the literature on poverty in early
    what is seen as an adequate standard                   childhood. We focused on studies published
    of living in 2020/21 is different from that            in the UK from 2010 onwards and included
    in previous decades. Reducing relative                 both peer-reviewed and grey literature.

4    In relation to voice, see Lister (2016) for in-depth discussion of experiences of poverty and their
     implications for the policy and politics of poverty. Examples of current initiatives include:
     https://covidrealities.org, https://atd-uk.org, www.citizensuk.org, and www.povertyproofing.co.uk
     [Accessed 19 July 2021].

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
Key terms

•   Absolute child poverty is the number            •    The Early Years Foundation Stage
    and proportion of children living in                 Profile (EYFSP) is a teacher-based
    households where household income                    assessment at the age of five. Achieving
    is below 60% of the 2010/11 median                   a ‘good level of development’ is defined
    income, which is held constant in real               as a child reaching their expected level
    terms after housing costs (adjusted for              of development in personal, social
    family size). This definition comes from             and emotional development, physical
    the Department for Work and Pension                  development, communication and
    (DWP)’s Households below average                     language, literacy and mathematics.
    income (HBAI) statistics, which are             •    We use the term ‘lone parent ’
    based on the Family Resources Survey.                to describe a parent who is not married
•   The benefit cap is the limit on the                  and does not have a partner. The term
    total amount of social security benefit              does not distinguish between situations
    that can be received by unemployed                   where a child has regular contact and/
    households or those working less than                or partly resides with their other parent
    16 hours a week. Currently £20,000                   and a child who solely resides with and
    (£23,000 in Greater London).                         is cared for by one parent.
•   Deep poverty, as defined by the                 •    Low and severe low income are
    Social Metrics Commission (SMC),                     defined as below 70% and 50%
    refers to people living below 50%                    of contemporary median income
    of the poverty line. The SMC’s measure               before housing costs respectively.
    of poverty takes into account a wider set            Material deprivation is calculated by
    of available material resources beyond               analysing both the number of items
    income and includes ‘inescapable’ costs:             or activities that a child/family lacks.
    housing (rental and mortgage), childcare,            A child/family counts as being deprived
    and disability. It looks at poverty depth,           if they reach a score of 25.
    persistence and the lived experience of         •    Minimum safety net is the financial
    poverty, and uses a stabilised poverty               support available from the state to
    line (averaging over three years).                   help mitigate poverty.
•   Deprivation is the inability of an              •    Persistent poverty is defined as
    individual or household to afford goods              being in poverty in this year and for
    and services typical to a society at                 two of three previous years, using the
    a given point in time. HBAI includes                 SMC measure.
    measures that combine low income                •    Relative child poverty, as defined
    and material deprivation.                            by HBAI statistics, is the number
•   Destitution is defined as either                     and proportion of children living in
    lacking two or more basic necessities                households where household income
    such as food, shelter and clothing,                  is below 60% of median contemporary
    or having insufficient money to buy                  income after housing costs (adjusted
    those essentials.                                    for family size).

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
1 The scale                                                                                                        9

                                                                                                        The changing face of early childhood in the UK
of child poverty
and deprivation
today—a snapshot
In this review, we use a widely accepted                  poverty and deprivation mean in concrete
definition of poverty as not having sufficient            terms, and the headline figures in 2019/20
material resources such as money, housing                 prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.
or food, to meet the minimum needs—both                   We explore how and why child poverty
material and social—in today’s society.5                  has changed over the last two decades
In this section we look at what child                     in Section 4.

Table 1: Weekly disposable income, after housing costs, adjusted for family
size for different family types in 2019/20. Source: Households below average
income (HBAI) (DWP 2021); Fitzpatrick et al. 2020.

    Household type                  UK relative            UK mean         UK bottom      Destitution
                                 poverty line—              income       fifth income
                                60% of median

    Single, working age                   £166                 £340
1.1 Child poverty                                   Figure 1 shows the latest poverty rates            10
                                                    for 33 OECD member states as well as

                                                                                                     The changing face of early childhood in the UK
Table 1 shows what relative poverty                 their average. The UK sits just above
means in cash terms per week for different          this average.
family types and how this compares
to average incomes. A lone parent with
a child under the age of five is considered         1.3 Childhood deprivation
as being in relative poverty if they live on
an income after housing costs of less than          Living on a low income also brings
£248 per week in 2019/20. A couple with             deprivation. Looking at the combination
a young child are considered as being in            of low income and material deprivation
relative poverty if they live on less than          provides a window on the living standards
£342 per week.                                      of families with children who are in or close
        Box 1 shows that children face              to poverty. The HBAI measure of material
a much higher risk of living in relative            deprivation is based on asking parents
poverty than the population as a whole.             whether they have access/can afford
                                                    a range of goods and services, including
                                                    child, adult and household items. Low
1.2 How do UK child poverty rates                   and severe low income are defined as
compare to other countries?                         below 70% and 50% of contemporary
                                                    median income before housing
Measuring poverty across countries is               costs, respectively.
difficult and data can be unreliable. However,              Box 2 shows the extent of low and
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation          severe low income combined with material
and Development (OECD) has compiled                 deprivation among families with children
data for some of its 37 member nations              today. Again, children in households where
since the early 2000s, including child              the youngest child is under five are at
poverty. The OECD defines poverty                   a slightly higher risk of material deprivation
as half the median household income                 than their counterparts. A family/child may
of the total population before housing              not reach the threshold for being counted
costs—which is a lower poverty line than            as deprived, but still experience some
the one that is used in the UK and this review.     degree of deprivation (DWP 2021).

Box 1: Relative child poverty in the UK, 2019/20.

•   14.5 million people in the UK (22% of the total population) live in relative poverty.
•   4.3 million children (31% of all children) live in relative poverty.
•   2.2 million children (36%) in families where the youngest child is aged
    under five are living in poverty.

Source: HBAI (DWP 2021).

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
Figure 1: Children in poverty in OECD member states, 2016–2018 (before                                           11
housing costs). Source: OECD 2021. Latest dates vary in each country between
2016 and 2018. The term ‘children’ applies to those aged 0–17 years old.

      USA                                                                                          17.8%

    Mexico                                                                                 16.6%

      Italy                                                                  13.9%

        UK                                                          11.7%
Average                                                        11.2%
Germany                                                     10.4%

    France                                        8.5%

    Finland                              6.5%

     Israel                      4.9%

          0%      2%       4%       6%       8%       10%       12%         14%      16%      18%          20%

Box 2: Children living in families on low incomes and in material
deprivation in the UK, 2019/20.

•     1.7 million children (12% of the total child population) are living in families
      on both low incomes and in material deprivation.
•     663,000 children (5% of the total child population) are living in families
      on severe low income and in material deprivation.
•     Of those living in families on both severe low income and material deprivation
      389,858 (6%) are in families where the youngest child is under five.

Source: HBAI (DWP 2021).

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
There are marked inequalities in             going wrong and the impact this has                12
material deprivation between the top and            on children’s experiences. Strikingly,

                                                                                                   The changing face of early childhood in the UK
bottom fifth of the income distribution             access to the internet and digital devices,
(see Annex for detail). Box 3 gives                 now considered a necessity, is not
a sense of the pressures and constraints            included in the questions about material
that families who are living on low                 deprivation in 2019/20. There is also
incomes face in terms of health, debt,              no measure of deprivation that is specific
basic repairs and not being able to put             to the under‑fives rather than children
money aside for a rainy day or things               as a whole.

Box 3: Material deprivation for bottom and top fifths of the income
distribution for children and parents.

Percentage of children in the bottom                Percentage of parents in the bottom
and top fifths of the income distribution           and top fifths of the income distribution
who cannot afford or access essential               who cannot afford or access essential
items/services in 2019/20                           items/services in 2019/20

•   10% of children in the bottom fifth             •    13% of parents in the bottom fifth
    do not have access to outdoor space                  cannot afford to keep their house
    or facilities to play safely compared                warm compared to 1% in the top fifth.
    to 1% in the top fifth.                         •    17% of parents in the bottom fifth
•   14% of children in the bottom fifth                  cannot keep up to date with their bills
    cannot afford sports equipment                       compared to 2% of parents in the
    or a bicycle compared to 0% in                       top fifth.
    the top fifth.                                  •    40% of parents in the bottom fifth
•   11% of children in the bottom fifth cannot           cannot replace broken electrical
    afford to go on a school trip once a term            goods compared to 1% in the top fifth.
    compared to 0% in the top fifth.                •    52% of parents in the bottom
•   4% of children in the bottom fifth cannot            fifth cannot make savings of £10
    afford fresh fruit and/or vegetables daily           a month or more compared to
    compared to 0% in the top fifth.                     7% in the top fifth.

Source: HBAI (DWP 2021).

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
2 Why is poverty                                                                                        13

                                                                                                     The changing face of early childhood in the UK
an essential lens
to understand early
childhood today?
Poverty affects children’s immediate                UK show marked inequalities. For example,
experiences and well-being, and for some            infant mortality rates in deprived areas
it also shapes long-term life chances.              of England were almost twice the rate
There is a large body of research that              of those living in the least deprived areas
shows a strong association between family           in 2018 (ONS 2020). Family income and
income and children’s early development.            socioeconomic status influence how
This is both because poverty has a direct           young children develop (Feinstein 2015
impact on the amount of money a family              a. b.; Jerrim and Vignoles 2015; Law,
has to spend on essentials, and also                Charlton, and Asmussen 2017). Asmussen
the stress and strains associated with              et al. (2018) show how income-related
managing on very limited budgets, which             gaps in a range of cognitive skills are
can affect parents’ sense of agency,                evident well before a child reaches three
psychological well-being and relationships          years old. Drawing on a range of research
within the family. However, this does not           based on the UK Millennium Cohort Study
mean that this relationship is determined,          (MCS) they find that family poverty
but that children growing up in poverty             is strongly associated at the age of
on average are more likely to have poorer           three with both poor vocabulary and
outcomes (Dartington Service Design                 understanding of objects—that is, their
Lab and Family Nurse Partnership 2018;              physical properties, understanding how to
Marmot et al. 2020). Parents who live               categorise them and relationships between
in poverty have a range of coping and               objects. Experience of hardship in the first
budgeting strategies to give their children         year of life strengthened this association.
the best possible opportunities given their                  Asmussen et al. find a stronger
circumstances (Lister 2016; Brewer and              association between income and
Patrick 2021).                                      cognitive skills (thinking, reading, learning,
                                                    memory, reasoning) than between social
                                                    and emotional ones. They also identify
2.1 Gaps emerge early                               protective factors that mitigate the
                                                    detrimental impact of poverty: a higher
Gaps between how children develop                   maternal age, maternal education,
emerge at the start of a child’s life.              breastfeeding and a stimulating
Differences in infant mortality in the              learning environment.

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
Work by Schoon et al. (2013), using         remains wide—standing at 17.8 percentage         14
the MCS, explores the role of poverty and           points in 2019. While there was some

                                                                                                  The changing face of early childhood in the UK
other factors (such as parental education,          narrowing of the gap between 2007
family stability and parenting) on early            and 2012, and between 2013 and 2017,
child outcomes at nine months, three years          progress has since stalled with a slight
and five years. Schoon et al. find poverty          widening of the gap over the last two
is associated both with poorer academic             years. We will explore this in more detail
attainment and social and emotional                 in our forthcoming review on early years
adjustment in early childhood (2013).               education and childcare.
Income has an ‘independent association’
with children’s cognitive development and
behaviour, over and above other factors:            2.2 How does poverty influence
maternal age, parental education, social            childhood outcomes?
class, worklessness, housing tenure
and conditions, the number of siblings,             Most of the research on poverty and early
area deprivation, and instability in the            childhood development shows an
family. Family structure and instability            association between income and
also have an independent risk, especially           outcomes rather than a causal relationship.
in relation to young children’s social              However, work by Cooper and Stewart
and emotional adjustment. But it is the             (2013; 2017a) found a causal relationship
combination of different risk factors               between income and a number of key
that has the strongest impact. A review             child outcomes. Their review of 61 studies
of the latest data on early childhood               that used randomised control trials,
inequalities and their impact on later child        quasi-experimental designs and analysis
and adult outcomes is being conducted               of longitudinal data found that ‘money in
as part of the Institute for Fiscal Studies         itself does matter’ (Cooper and Stewart
(IFS) Deaton Review of Inequalities                 2017a, p.1). Income has a particularly
(Cattan, Goodman, and Fitzimmons                    marked impact on children’s cognitive
forthcoming).                                       development, followed by social, emotional,
        The link between poverty and                and behavioural development and
children’s outcomes can be seen in                  physical development.
the gap in school readiness, with long-                     Explaining how poverty influences
term consequences for children’s later              children’s outcomes is important in order
educational achievement. On average,                to understand what policies are likely to
40% of the overall development gap                  make the most difference. Cooper and
between disadvantaged 16-year-olds and              Stewart (2017a) draw on two theories—
their peers has already emerged by the age          the investment model and the family
of five (Children’s Commissioner 2020a).            stress model.
The Early Years Foundation Stage Profile
(EYFSP), a teacher-based assessment at
the age of five, captures cognitive, social         2.3 The direct impact of poverty
and emotional and physical measures                 (investment model)
of child development. Stewart and Reader
(2021) show how the gap between those               In the investment model, poverty has
children receiving free school meals                a direct impact on children’s everyday
(a proxy for poverty) and other children            experiences and their development—
achieving a ‘good level of development’             for example, a lack of money or other

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
material resources means pressure on                      Start food vouchers, only reach a minority                 15
household budgets and not being able                      of young children living in poverty (Food

                                                                                                                  The changing face of early childhood in the UK
to buy essentials.                                        Foundation 2019).
        As identified in Section 1, families
with children in the poorest fifth of the
income distribution are much more likely                  2.4 The indirect impact of poverty
to experience material deprivation than                   (family stress model)
those in the top fifth. The experience
can be pervasive—hunger and food                          The family stress model highlights
insecurity, limited space and poorer housing              how poverty is not only experienced
conditions, less access to safe places and                materially and socially, but also
fewer opportunities to play (DWP 2021),                   emotionally. Financial stress, not having
fewer school trips and limited access to                  an adequate income or work, reverberates
the internet (Judge and Rahman 2020).                     through family life. It affects the way in
Not having enough to eat or being able to                 which love and care are both expressed
eat nutritious food is the starkest aspect                and undertaken.6 Poverty influences
of child poverty and has been thrown into                 child outcomes indirectly where lack
sharp relief by COVID-19 (see Section 5).                 of income and economic pressure can
For the first time HBAI has included data                 lead to psychological distress, lack of
on food insecurity and finds children                     control and choice (Mohamed 2020),
significantly more likely to be food insecure,            and the experience of stigma (Lister
particularly if they are in poverty (see Box 4).          2020), all of which can in turn affect
Maternal nutrition and the quality of babies              relationships within the family both
and young children’s diets affects                        between parents and parenting practices.
later health outcomes and obesity                         This is illustrated in Figure 2 (Acquah
(World Health Organization (WHO) 2016).                   et al. 2017; Eisenstadt and Oppenheim
The Food Foundation's Children's Future                   2019). The research also identifies
Food Inquiry found that policies designed                 protective factors such as maternal
to address food insecurity, such as Healthy               social support, neighbourhood factors,

Box 4: Food insecurity for households with children of all ages.

•   1.7 million children (13%) are living in households with low or very low food security.
•   1.1 million children (26%) living in relative poverty are in food insecure households.

Source: HBAI (DWP 2021). Food insecurity is defined as the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because
of a lack of monetary or other resources.

6     See Professor Ann Phoenix’s response at a Nuffield Foundation webinar on 26 November 2020 [online].
      Available from: www.nuffieldfoundation.org/events/well-being-in-early-childhood-how-are-the-lives-of-
      families-with-young-children-changing [Accessed 21 July 2021].

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
effective coping strategies and                     Service Design Lab and FNP 2018). The           16
communication skills. The economic                  latest SMC report (2020) shows that in

                                                                                                 The changing face of early childhood in the UK
pressure in Figure 2 encompasses                    2018/19, 34% of people in poverty had
being on a low income and facing debt.              one or more adults in the family with poor
Financial pressure and stress can also              self‑reported mental health compared
affect parents’ ‘cognitive bandwidth’—              to 24% of those who were not in poverty.
the mental space and effort involved in             The report also finds that 27% of people
being an attentive and responsive parent            in poverty were behind in paying bills
(Cobb‑Clark, Salamanca, and Zhu 2016)—              compared to 7% of those who were not
as well as affecting decision-making                in poverty.
(Gandy et al. 2016).                                       In a key study on poverty and
       Poor families experience greater             parenting, Cooper (2017) finds that
stress as part of their everyday lives              hardship—debt, deprivation and ‘feeling
than more advantaged families, with                 poor’—is linked to poorer maternal
a range of psychological consequences               mental health and lower life satisfaction
(Duncan et al. 2014, cited in Dartington            and this negatively relates to or

Figure 2: Family stress model. Adapted from Acquah et al. 2017.
Note this figure assumes a two-parent heterosexual relationship, though
it does not assume that the parents are necessarily living together.

                     Father’s
                   psychological
                     distress

     Economic                      Inter-parental           Parent—child             Child
     pressure                          conflict               problems             problems

                     Mother’s
                   psychological
                     distress

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
undermines parenting. This is particularly               organisation of family life. However,                17
the case in relation to bonding with the                 some children in families with low income

                                                                                                         The changing face of early childhood in the UK
child, harsher and permissive discipline                 or fewer family resources but with
and play. Mothers’ mental health is                      high parenting scores were doing well.
a much less important factor in shaping                  Kiernan and Mensah estimate that half
parents' educational activities and                      of the effects of poverty on early child
meeting children’s physical needs and                    outcomes are associated with the quality
routines. The impact of the pandemic                     of parenting. However, the authors point
on parents’ economic security and                        out that this is not a causal effect; poverty
mental health (see Section 5) is                         may be mediated by other factors such
particularly worrying in relation to                     as maternal mental health.
its potential impact on children’s                               The association between
well‑being and outcomes.                                 socioeconomic status (income and
        Research undertaken by                           parental education) and children’s
Kiernan and Mensah (2011) examines                       cognitive and social, emotional
the relationship between poverty,                        and behavioural outcomes is also
family resources7 and young children’s                   evident when children reach middle
attainment, with a particular focus on the               childhood aged 7–9 (Washbrook,
role of parenting. Using the MCS, they                   Gregg and Proper 2014). They find that
found that children growing up in families               mothers’ poorer psychological health
in poverty or with low family resources                  is an important mediator between
had poorer outcomes at the age of                        family income and children’s outcomes.
five, particularly for those in persistent                       Poverty is also associated
poverty. Kiernan and Mensah also                         with children being at risk of greater
found that children in families who had                  vulnerability or harm. We explore this
moved out of poverty still experienced                   in depth in the second review of this
a detriment to how well they were                        series, Protecting young children at risk
doing—a reminder of the need for policy                  of abuse and neglect, which shows that
responses to encompass families above                    socioeconomic circumstances, local
as well as below the poverty line. They                  area deprivation and ethnicity influence
devise a composite index of parenting                    the likelihood of children coming into
comprising four elements: reading and                    care (Bywaters and Featherstone 2020).
learning, relationships and interaction,                 That risk is even higher for younger
physical care and nutrition, and positive                children. Importantly, this does not mean
and negative discipline. Using this index,               that all children in poverty are vulnerable
they found that ‘positive parenting’ is lower            or vice versa. However, families with
among families living in poverty or with                 young children who are in or close to
fewer family resources. The experience                   poverty are more at risk of experiencing
of disadvantage can ‘disrupt’ how parents                a range of other difficulties such as
engage with their children—whether                       debt, a change in employment or
that is parent-child interaction, cognitive              housing, poor physical and mental
stimulation, disciplinary practices or                   health and domestic violence

7    This includes income, maternal education, employment, quality of local area, family structure,
     maternal age at birth and number of children.

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
(Skafida, Morrison, and Devaney 2020).                    that links household poverty with different              18
This layering of difficulties on top                      aspects of childhood vulnerability.8

                                                                                                                The changing face of early childhood in the UK
of each other, combined with having
fewer financial, educational, emotional
and social resources to act as a buffer,                  Point for discussion
can tip families and their children into
being vulnerable.                                         •    What balance should public policy
        The Office of the Children’s                           strike between measures to address
Commissioner for England (2020b)                               poverty at source and those which
estimates that in 2019, some 17% (557,512)                     support parents’ mental health, family
of children under five lived in a household                    relationships and parenting to mitigate
with domestic abuse, parental mental                           the impact of poverty on young
health problems or parental alcohol/drug                       children's lives?
abuse. However, there is no data available

8    This is because of limitations in the Family Resources Survey, which is the source for HBAI, and limited
     linkage between different administrative data sets in England.

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
3 How has                                                                                            19

                                                                                                  The changing face of early childhood in the UK
public policy
addressed early
childhood poverty?
Over the last 25 years, successive                  The state is not always the key actor.
governments have attempted to address               For example, employers, the community
the changing causes and impacts of child            and social investment can also play
poverty. Before we go on to identify those          a role. Governments of different political
changing patterns in the next section,              persuasions have emphasised different
we set out briefly the UK policy context            levers to address child poverty.
in which they have occurred.                                The London School of Economics
       Policy responses to child poverty            (LSE) Centre for the Analysis for
since 1996/97, shaped by political                  Social Exclusion (CASE) has undertaken
differences and socioeconomic                       a substantial assessment of the changes
circumstances, have tried to grapple                in social policy over this period and their
with the new pressures facing families              impact on early childhood outcomes
with young children with varying degrees            (Hills and Stewart 2005; Hills, Sefton, and
of success. Core solutions to the                   Stewart 2009; Lupton et al. 2015; Cooper
pressures faced by families and children            and Hills 2021; Stewart and Reader 2021;
have proven difficult to maintain in                Vizard and Hills 2021). See Annex for
a climate of increasingly complex                   further detail.
drivers, economic shocks and shifting
political priorities.
       Public policy responses to child             3.1 Labour governments 1997–2010
poverty have tended to fall into two broad
approaches: reducing pressures on                   There are distinct differences between
families, and increasing their capabilities         each political administration in relation
(Eisenstadt and Oppenheim 2019). As                 to goals, approach and funding
shown in Figure 3, this includes: tackling          of measures to address child poverty
income poverty at source through                    (Eisenstadt and Oppenheim 2019).
financial transfers, parental employment            There are also points of continuity.
and education; addressing mediating                 Under successive Labour governments,
factors such as mental health support               the ambitious goal to eradicate child
for parents; parenting interventions; and           poverty in a generation (later embodied
enhancing children’s capabilities through           in legislation) catalysed a multifaceted
quality early years and childcare provision.        strategy. It encompassed the creation

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
of new services such as: Sure Start centres             the creation of universal early years and                  20
integrating services for the under-fives;               childcare services, a doubling of spending
the expansion of nursery provision and                  on cash benefits for families with children,
childcare; and major investment in tax                  and a fourfold increase in spending on
credits for families with children. Buoyed              services for the under-fives (Stewart 2013).
by a growing economy until the financial                This contributed to a reduction in relative
crash, by the end of their term in office,              child poverty of seven percentage points
the policy landscape had changed, with                  (Hills 2013) and very sharp decreases in

Figure 3: Types of public policy to address early childhood poverty
and its consequences.

                                             Income transfers
                                                e.g. benefits,
                        Employment             tax allowances
                         and skills                                      Asset transfers
                         initiatives,                                  e.g. child trust fund
                       minimum wage

     Reducing costs                                                                        Benefits in kind
      e.g. childcare                                                                       e.g. free meals

                                           Tackling child poverty                                     Early
                                                                                                  intervention
      Quality                                                                                      e.g. family
    early years                                                                                relationships and
     provision                                                                                   home learning
                                                                                                  programmes

              Public health                                                         Maternity and
             initiatives e.g.                                                       paternity leave
             health visitors

                                                          Community-based
                                Social investment
                                                            approaches

    Policies primarily aimed at reducing pressures
    Policies primarily aimed at increasing parent/child capabilities
    Policies that both reduce pressures and increase capabilities

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
absolute child poverty. However, there              were worst affected by the tax/benefit                21
was concern in some quarters that child             changes. The local government reductions

                                                                                                      The changing face of early childhood in the UK
poverty targets incentivised short-term             led to a 40% reduction in Sure Start and
income measures to tackle child poverty,            very limited provision for early intervention
the tax credit/benefit system was growing           and prevention (National Audit Office
in cost and complexity and family policy            (NAO) 2019).
sat alongside rather than being integrated
into the child poverty strategy.
                                                    3.3 Conservative governments
                                                    2015–present
3.2 Coalition government 2010–2015
                                                    The Conservative government aimed
The coalition government was committed,             to reduce child poverty by tackling ‘the
in principle, to the goal of ending child           root causes: entrenched worklessness,
poverty, but at the same time implemented           family breakdown, problem debt and drug
a sharp reduction in public spending                and alcohol dependency’ (Conservative
on welfare in the wake of the financial             Manifesto 2015, p. 28). The statutory
crash. It signalled a marked change                 child poverty targets were replaced by
in approach, with a shift from income               two life-chances indicators: workless
measures to improving services for low-             households and educational attainment
income families, emphasising parenting              at age 16. The 2015 budget signalled
and early years provision as key policy             a further reduction in welfare spending
levers to reduce poverty and increase               (£12 billion) and the ‘two-child benefit limit’
social mobility (Field 2010). Universal             to discourage the growth of large families
credit, a radical reform that aimed to              (see forthcoming evaluation of the impact
simplify the major means-tested benefits            of this policy on fertility by Portes et al).
and improve incentives, was introduced              Universal credit was rolled out, but with
(Brien 2009). Over this period health visitor       a greatly reduced budget as well as design
numbers grew, family nurse partnership              and implementation difficulties. The 2018
(FNP) programmes (helping vulnerable                budget signalled a change of direction with
teenage parents) expanded, an early                 a major injection of cash to universal credit.
intervention grant was introduced                   However, substantial reductions to welfare
(though later reduced), and free part-              spending were still in the pipeline.
time early education was introduced for             Alongside these changes to welfare there
disadvantaged two-year-olds, as well as             was a continued fall in investment in Sure
the early years pupil premium. At the same          Start centres. In contrast, childcare for
time there was a reduction in measures to           working parents has continued to grow,
improve childcare quality and workforce             with the implementation of 30 hours
qualifications. These measures were                 of free childcare for working parents,
overshadowed by major public spending               social mobility measures to narrow the
reductions, focused on welfare benefits/            early childhood language gap, including
tax credits for those of working age and            the roll-out of the Nuffield Early Language
children, as well as local government,              Intervention to support young children’s
which disproportionately affected                   oral language, and measures to address
deprived areas. Analysis by De Agostini,            parental conflict. Latterly, the focus on
Hills, and Sutherland (2014) shows that             ‘left-behind’ parts of the country signals
families with young children under five             a new emphasis on addressing regional

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
Figure 4: UK governments and examples of major child-poverty related                                                                                                   22
       policies/legislation, 1997–2020.

                                                                                                                                                                              The changing face of early childhood in the UK
                                                          1999                                                        2010                                      2020
                                                     Pledge to end                                                Cross-party                              COVID-19 job
                                                    child poverty by                                               support for                           retention scheme,
                                                   2020 and income                                                Child Poverty                              increase to
                                                     and services           2004                                   Act (2010)                             universal credit
                                                       measures      Ten-year  childcare                                                                  basic allowance,
                                                                     strategy and Every                                                                     Early Years
                                                                                                              Emergency Budget
                                                                        Child Matters                                                                          Healthy
                                                                                                             aim of £11bn reduction
                                                                                                             in welfare spending by                        Development
                                                                                                            2014/15 and introduction                           Review
                                                                                                                of universal credit

                                             60%

                                             50%
Percentage of children in relative poverty

                                             40%

                                             30%

                                             20%

                                             10%

                                             0%
                                                                                                                               11
                                               97

                                                                                                                              17
                                                                                                                              12

                                                                                                                              13
                                                    98

                                                                                                                              15

                                                                                                                              18
                                                         99

                                                                                                                              14

                                                                                                                              16

                                                                                                                              19
                                                                     01

                                                                                                                             10
                                                                                                        07
                                                                          02

                                                                                03

                                                                                                                             20
                                                                                            05

                                                                                                              08
                                                                                      04

                                                                                                  06

                                                                                                                    09
                                                               00

                                                                                                                            20

                                                                                                                           20
                                                                                                                           20

                                                                                                                           20

                                                                                                                           20

                                                                                                                           20
                                                                                                                           20

                                                                                                                           20

                                                                                                                           20
                                                                    20

                                                                                                                         20
                                              19

                                                    19

                                                                                                       20
                                                         19

                                                                         20

                                                                                                                          20
                                                                               20

                                                                                           20

                                                                                                             20
                                                                                     20

                                                                                                 20

                                                                                                                   20
                                                              20

                                                                          2002                                                        2013
                                                                    Child tax credits                                            Services not
                                                                     introduced via                                           income measures
                                                                    the Tax Credits                                             e. g. childcare
                                                                       Act (2002)                                             for disadvantaged
                                                                                                                                two-year-olds

                                                                                                                                                2016
                                                                                                                                  Welfare Reform and Work Act
                                                                                                                                   and Childcare Act (2016)—
                                                   1998
                                                                                                                                  child poverty targets abolished,
                                              Establishment
                                                                                                                                  welfare reductions of £13bn per
                                             of Sure Start and
                                                                                                                                  year by 2020/21, 30 hours free
                                             working families
                                                                                                                                   childcare for working parents
                                                 tax credit
                                                                                                                                    of three- and four-year-olds

                                             Labour 1997–2010                                    Coalition 2010–2015                              Conservative 2015–present

    See Annex for further detail on flagship policies and sources. It is important to note that there is a time-lag
    between policies being introduced and their impact on poverty rates and that policies interact with wider
    economic circumstances (see p. 25-6).

    Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
inequalities, with a primary focus on                      intervention, particularly the early years.   23
infrastructure measures to address                         While targets based on reducing child

                                                                                                         The changing face of early childhood in the UK
longstanding disadvantage. Child poverty                   poverty in the UK were abolished in
rates have been rising since 2013/14,                      2015, Scotland, Wales and Northern
with particularly sharp rises in poverty                   Ireland retained measures of poverty
for families where the youngest child is                   based around the UK Child Poverty Act
under five (see Section 4).                                2010.9 Scotland has now legislated for
       In the devolved nations there has                   new measures and targets, including
been a different approach, with a sustained                a new means-tested child payment
emphasis on prevention and early                           for children under six.

Figure 5: Cumulative change in social security and tax credit spending since
2009/10. Source: Vizard and Hills 2021.

£ billion (constant 2019/20 prices)
 15

12

    9

    6

    3

 0

-3

-6

-9

-12
        2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20

                                Children          Working age            Pensioners

9       For analysis of the devolved nations’ approaches to poverty, see: McCormick 2013; Rogers 2019;
        and Round and Longlands 2020.

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
COVID-19 has brought                           most effective way to address child              24
unprecedented challenges. The                           poverty and disadvantage in changing

                                                                                                         The changing face of early childhood in the UK
government responded with a very                        contexts. There has been extensive
substantial package of measures to                      analysis of the impacts of public policy
protect living standards in the wake                    on poverty and wider child outcomes
of the pandemic, which has protected                    undertaken by CASE and others.10
many families. However, despite                         However, since 2010, there has been no
its scale, many have experienced                        consistent policy framework and limited
financial difficulties (see Section 5).                 modelling of the relative effectiveness of
         The combination of differing                   medium and long-term benefits and costs
political goals in relation to child poverty            of different kinds of policy that encompass
and the sharply fluctuating economic                    the range of levers highlighted in Figure 3.
context has translated into marked                      There has been little attention paid to
changes in public spending on social                    how to develop wider public support for
security/tax credit spending over the                   the kind of measures that are needed
last two decades. Under Labour, overall                 to get to grips with the scale and nature
spending on benefits/tax credits per child              of child poverty that we face today and
increased in real terms by 61% between                  in future.
2000/01 and 2009/10; under the coalition
and the Conservatives, it fell by 17% in
the following decade (Kelly et al. 2018).               Points for discussion
Figure 5 shows the marked cumulative
fall in public spending on social security/             •   Given the evidence of the impact
tax credits for children since 2010 in                      of the deep reductions in social
contrast to the growth in spending on                       security on child poverty and longer-
pensioners (Vizard and Hills 2021). This                    term child development, what are the
fall in spending on children and families,                  priorities for redressing this? Should
in combination with other factors, has                      public policy prioritise families with
driven the rise in child poverty since                      young children who are in deep and
2013/14. Progress has also stalled                          persistent poverty or take a wider
on some indicators of child welfare                         preventative approach?
such as infant mortality, birthweight,                  •   Core solutions to addressing early
early childhood obesity and early                           child poverty have been difficult
learning inequalities (Stewart and                          to realise and maintain over the
Reader 2021).                                               last two decades. What scope is
         What is also apparent is the                       there for developing a cross-party
complexity of the policy responses as                       approach to prioritising this issue
each government layers its own policies                     and developing sustainable solutions
on top of what has gone before, with                        that meet the challenges of the
little political consensus about the                        21st century?

10   See, for example: www.nuffieldfoundation.org/project/social-policies-and-distributional-outcomes-
     in-a- changing-britain [Accessed 23 July 2021].

Nuffield Foundation Changing patterns of poverty in early childhood
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