Child Poverty Alliance campaigning to eradicate child poverty Beneath the Surface Child Poverty in Northern Ireland BENEATH THE SURFACE Child Poverty in Northern Ireland The findings, interpretations and conclusions of the articles included in this report reflect the views of the individual authors, who were given an open brief to give their personal reflections on child poverty in Northern Ireland. Their views do not reflect the policies or views of the Child Poverty Alliance. The Child Poverty Alliance accepts no responsibility for errors. The designations in this publication do not imply an opinion on legal status of any country or of its authorities. © 2014 Child Poverty Alliance. All rights reserved. Designed and printed by PepperCollective.com i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report is the result of work undertaken by the Child Poverty Alliance. The editors would like to thank all the contributors, not only for their papers but also for their ongoing work in highlighting the issue of child poverty in Northern Ireland. The quotes contained within the publication were extracts of interviews with parents conducted on behalf of the Child Poverty Alliance by Barnardo’s Northern Ireland; we appreciate the time given by the parents to discuss these issues. Special thanks to Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol for his support of this publication, to Orlaith Minogue for her expertise in editing and Advice NI, Barnardo’s Northern Ireland, Children in Northern Ireland, the Family Fund, Save the Children NI and the Quaker Service for their kind financial contributions. ii ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS Les Allamby was the director of the Law Centre until taking up post as the Chief Commissioner at the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in September 2014. The chapter is written in a personal capacity. Dr Bronagh Byrne is a Lecturer in Social Policy at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research interests lie in children’s rights, disability policy and the relationship between international human rights law and policy development. Bronagh has a particular research interest in the potential of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which incorporates a range of social policy areas, in creating a more inclusive society. Dr Agata D’Addato is Senior Policy Coordinator at Eurochild, a network which brings together over 100 member organisations from across Europe promoting the rights and welfare of children. Eurochild aims at monitoring and influencing EU policy to ensure the rights of children and, in particular, the most vulnerable children are taken into account. Rachel Dennison is a Research and Policy Officer for Employers For Childcare Charitable Group. To date she has completed several reports including the Northern Ireland Childcare Cost Survey series (2010-2013) and ‘Managing Expectations, a survey of new mums and dads’ (2013). Ellen Finlay is Policy Officer at Children in Northern Ireland, responsible for policy analysis. She is co-chair of the Child Poverty Alliance and sits on the Policy Steering Group of Eurochild. She is also a Board Member of Hazelwood Integrated Primary School. Kevin Higgins is Head of Policy and Research with Advice NI. He has worked in the advice sector for over 20 years within an independent advice centre (Ballynafeigh Community Development Association), a CAB (Falls Road) and with Law Centre NI (Legal Adviser). A large part of his work revolves around addressing social policy issues raised by Advice NI members and engaging with key stakeholders. Paddy Hillyard is Professor of Sociology at Queen’s University Belfast. His main research interest is in social order and control in modern welfare states focusing on a number of substantive areas: 'crime', social harm, political violence, poverty and iii ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS inequality. Recently his research has focused on poverty, conflict and inequality in Northern Ireland. Goretti Horgan is a lecturer in Social Policy and Deputy Policy Director of the ARK project (www.ark.ac.uk). She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network. Research interests are child rights and women’s rights, especially child poverty, welfare reform and poverty among disabled people. Much of her research is carried out with children’s organisations and other NGOs. Grace Kelly is Research Assistant with the School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work at Queen’s University Belfast. Her main area of work to date has covered issues relating to indicators of social need, socially perceived necessities of life, the measurement of poverty and social exclusion. Anne Moore is Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns Manager for Save the Children. Previously she worked as a Policy Officer, Press Officer and teacher. She has a BA Hons from QUB in Political Science, History and French, a PGCE from Edinburgh University, MA in 20th century history from the University of Ulster and LLM in Human Rights Law from QUB. Katie Schmuecker is a Programme Manager in the Poverty Team at Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), where she is working on the development of JRF’s Anti-Poverty Strategies for the UK. She also manages programmes of research on the future of the UK labour market and working poverty, income adequacy and the cost of living. Professor Mike Tomlinson is Head of School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work at Queen’s University Belfast. Much of his work has focused on the political economy of the Northern Ireland conflict. Mike has been working with colleagues from six universities across the UK, participating in the Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK project, supported by the Economic and Social Research Council. Sanne Velthuis joined JRF in 2013 where she works as a programme assistant for the Anti-Poverty Strategies for the UK programme. Prior to that she worked for iv ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS StepChange Debt Charity and completed an MA in International Social Transformation at Leeds University. Mary Anne Webb has over twenty years’ policy and practice experience working in the voluntary sector. Since 2007 she has worked for Barnardo’s NI a leading children’s charity providing services to 10,000 children, young people and families in Northern Ireland as a senior Policy and Research Officer. v EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & NEXT STEPS CHAPTER 1: CHILD RIGHTS AND THE EUROPEAN UNION  Fighting child poverty should be framed in a child rights approach which should be applied in internal market, trade, finance and infrastructure policy-making, as well as the more obvious areas of education, health, employment and welfare.  Targeted action, designed to protect the most vulnerable and marginalised children, needs to be embedded in a comprehensive child rights strategy.  The traditional silo and departmental approaches are not helpful or cost effective. Children’s rights need to be mainstreamed.  Investing in children is a priority especially in hard times. The Executive has responsibility to implement the European Commission’s 2013 Recommendation on Investing in Children and should access the structural funds to progress this. CHAPTER 2: CHILD POVERTY IN NORTHERN IRELAND – RESULTS FROM THE PSE STUDY  There is general agreement that the measurement of child poverty is based on both low income and deprivation.  Adjusting incomes for different household types, measuring before or after housing costs, and the selection of deprivation items all have an impact on poverty rates.  The consensual poverty method, which takes account of what the population considers to be basic necessities, is described. The study found a high level of agreement on the basic necessities for children.  The study found that only a few children lacked very basic necessities such as three meals a day and adequate clothing, but a third of all children (150,000) were deprived of an annual holiday and 75,000 children are growing up in cold and damp homes.  Overall, the study found that 24% or 106,000 children are living in low income households and are deprived of four or more items. vi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & NEXT STEPS  The study found those who had a ‘high experience’ of the conflict were significantly more deprived than those with no conflict experience and that a fifth of all children are living with an adult/s who have ‘high experience’. CHAPTER 3: CHILD POVERTY AND DISABILITY  Children who have a disability and children who live in a household with a disabled parent or sibling are most likely to experience poverty.  To treat disability benefits as income in the measurement of poverty masks the true extent of child poverty.  Once benefits are removed from income, the child poverty rate increases by 4% with the disparity greater in Northern Ireland than the UK, due largely to higher levels of disability.  The introduction of further benefit cuts risks having a disproportionate impact on child poverty rates compared to the rest of the United Kingdom.  The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) should guide ministerial fulfilment of the right to an adequate standard of living for children living with disabilities. CHAPTER 4: CHILD POVERTY, LOW PAY AND THE LABOUR MARKET  For the first time, child poverty in Northern Ireland is highest in working families.  Changes in the labour market are driving up poverty and inequality with work no longer a guarantee out of poverty.  The rising employment rate masks the shift towards part time and insecure employment as many low income families join the market on temporary contracts in caring, leisure and other service occupations.  These groups face a heightened risk of cycling between low paid work and unemployment in what has become known as the low-pay, no-pay cycle. vii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & NEXT STEPS  It is estimated that 25 per cent of Northern Ireland’s workforce was paid less than the Living Wage in 2013.  Northern Ireland suffers from longstanding educational inequality. A substantial proportion of people aged 16-64 has few or no formal qualifications (29.1 per cent in 2011) compared to England and Wales (15 per cent).  Northern Ireland has fewer people with high level qualifications (23.6% compared to 29.7 per cent in England and Wales).  The welfare to work system presents a barrier to employment. Current disincentives for second earners to work are set to worsen under Universal Credit (UC), as the current design of UC does not include an earnings disregard for second earners.  Employment programmes need to be much more tightly targeted on low income families.  Policy makers should be concerned by the quality of jobs as well as the quantity.  A child poverty strategy must embrace employment, skills and workforce development programmes. CHAPTER 5: CHILD POVERTY AND SOCIAL SECURITY – AN UNRAVELLING CONSENSUS  Child poverty levels were reduced in the past through changes to the tax and social security system. They account for four times the level of decrease in relative poverty than changes in parental work patterns.  Welfare reform since 2010 amounts to the largest shake-up of the social security system for a generation.  As detailed, there have been over thirty changes to reduce social security expenditure since October 2010.  The GB Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the contentious welfare bill in Northern Ireland involve the introduction of Universal Credit to replace six existing social security benefits and the replacement of Disability Living Allowance for people of working age with Personal Independence Payment. viii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY & NEXT STEPS  The Institute for Fiscal Studies report illustrates the disproportionate impact social security policy is having on child poverty in Northern Ireland. Over the period of 2010 to 2020 relative child poverty will have increased by 8.3 per cent and absolute child poverty by 11.5 per cent.  Populist rhetoric has replaced support for social protection and created hardship.  An open debate of what can be done, at what cost and how it could be paid for is needed urgently. CHAPTER 6: CHILD POVERTY AND CHILDCARE  Childcare in Nordic countries is seen as a bulwark against child poverty.  Childcare provision in Northern Ireland is inadequate, inflexible and too expensive.  Childcare impacts on the rate of child poverty in three ways: acts as a barrier to employment for parents, places pressure on family incomes and meets essential developmental needs of children.  There is only one childcare place in Northern Ireland for every 8.6 children, with even more limited provision for children with disabilities and special needs.  There is a lack of flexibility failing to support shift work and irregular hours.  It costs on average £158 per week or £16,432 for an average family with two children. For low income families the cost of childcare takes up more than 44 per cent of their disposable income.  A high quality childcare system could reduce child poverty by up to one half.  Northern Ireland should follow the Nordic example by linking early years and childcare policy and provision. CHAPTER 7: CHILD POVERTY AND EDUCATION  There is a large gap between the educational achievement of children living in poverty and children from better-off families.