Child poverty strategy: is this mission-led government in action, and will it work?

The government’s newly launched child poverty strategy sets out a coordinated package of measures across welfare, health, housing and education to tackle child poverty. The headline policy is undoubtedly the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap. This single change is predicted to lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty and could significantly benefit their health. Developed by a cross-government taskforce and charged with a clear goal to tackle the root causes of child poverty, is this strategy mission-led government in action?

Why tackling child poverty matters for health

Families living in poverty find it harder to live healthy lives, harder to access NHS services, and live with greater illness than the rest of the population. As we explored in our recent explainer on children’s health, growing up poor harms children’s health now and throughout their lives, leading to:

• Shorter life expectancy and higher infant mortality.

• Greater risk of obesity and chronic illness.

• Increased hospital admissions for preventable conditions like asthma and malnutrition.

• Poorer mental health and developmental delays that can last a lifetime.

These harms create a self-perpetuating cycle. Children in poorer households experience poorer health, which in turn limits their education and employment opportunities. Childhood illness and disability can also push families into poverty if parents have to give up work to care for their child.

The scale of the problem is stark. 4.5 million children in the UK – nearly one in three – live in relative poverty after housing costs. The proportion of children in poverty has fallen only slightly in the past twenty years from a peak of 34% in 1997 to 31% in 2024. Contrast that with ‘pensioner poverty’, which has almost halved over the same period from a peak of 29% to 16% thanks to focused action like increases to the basic state pension and the ‘triple lock’. This shows that poverty can be reduced with sustained political will.

Doing the heavy lifting: removal of the two-child benefit cap

The two-child limit, introduced in 2017, has been one of the biggest drivers of child poverty in recent years. Scrapping it is expected to lift 450,000 children out of poverty by 2030. This could be transformative for these children and families – not just for household budgets, but also for health outcomes. Fewer kids going hungry. Less stress for parents, most of whom are in work. Better life chances for babies and toddlers.

This is health creation in practice, even if it’s not labelled that way. It’s a reminder that some of the most powerful answers to health challenges can lie outside the NHS.

Other wins for children’s health

There were a host of other measures, many previously announced, with direct health benefits:

• Extending free school meals to all families on Universal Credit and rolling out free breakfast clubs.

• Continued investment in Healthy Start, helping low-income families afford nutritious food and supporting breastfeeding.

• Expanding Best Start Family Hubs, building on the success of Sure Start, which we know improved health and reduced hospital admissions.

• Reducing the number of children living in temporary accommodation, which disrupts education and has a lasting damage on physical and mental health.

Together, the government says these policies will deliver ‘the largest reduction in child poverty since records began’ – equivalent to a 4% fall in the proportion of children in relative poverty over five years, greater than in any previous parliament. While historic, this progress would still leave the UK lagging behind most of its high-income counterparts.

What’s missing – and what can the health system do?

There’s still a lot more that can be done, particularly in addressing structural causes of poverty like access to social and affordable housing. Even so, this is a vital step forward and its potential in transforming children’s health should be recognised and harnessed.

The government has committed to ‘break the cycle of deprivation and poor health’ by ‘strengthening the NHS, focusing on health inequalities, and integrating more effectively at the local level’ and by ‘preventing poor health in childhood’. In practical terms, this includes:

• More health visitors and stronger community services.

• Signposting families to advice and support with housing, welfare and food.

• Poverty-proofing care pathways to remove the hidden costs of accessing care.

• Meeting the unmet need for child and adolescent mental health support.

The NHS can’t solve poverty on its own – but its foundational role is unmistakable, and it can mitigate some of its worst effects.

Turning rhetoric into reality

The child poverty strategy is a welcome example of mission-led policymaking using cross-government levers to pursue a shared long-term goal. But with no accompanying delivery plan, ambitious targets, or wider health mission to align action across government, there is a real risk the strategy will fall short of its potential.

What it does demonstrate is that tackling poverty is about more than raising household income; it’s about creating the conditions for good health, from safe housing and nutritious food to affordable childcare and supportive communities. The lifting of the two-child benefit cap shows what bold action could achieve. Now we need that level of ambition across government.