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Best Practices Sought To Tackle Child Poverty

The Government's new Take Up Taskforce is asking local authorities and their partners to show how they are tackling child poverty by supporting parents to take up tax credits and benefits.

The Taskforce is currently looking for examples of good practice from across the UK, which demonstrate how local services have supported families at risk of poverty to take up the financial support they are entitled to. Local authorities and their partners are invited to share their best practices with the Taskforce by 20 February 2009.

Benefits and tax credits are essential to tackling poverty. The Government has redesigned the tax and benefit system to provide help for all, and extra help for those who need it most, whilst still maintaining incentives to work. This has been critical in lifting 600,000 children out of poverty over the last decade. However, many families are still not taking up the tax credits and benefits that they are entitled to, and remain in poverty as a result.

Children in poverty experience the realities of disadvantage and deprivation, suffering not only from poverty of income, but poverty of aspiration and opportunity. Whilst child poverty exists, our children, our society, and our economy will not reach their full potential.

The Government has set up the Take Up Taskforce of experts from local authorities and the voluntary sector to develop ways to help local services improve the take up of benefits and tax credits.