‘Little evidence’ that new measures will tackle child poverty despite political talk
The benefit of permanent spending changes set out in Budget 2024 for those most at risk of poverty is “negligible”, according to the Economic and Social Research Institute but one-off measures announced on Tuesday will help cushion the impact of rising prices.
The ESRI said in its annual assessment of the Government’s plans that Budget 2024 was broadly “progressive”. The package of tax and spending measures will see average real household income rise by about 2 per cent next year, “with higher gains for low-income compared to high-income households”. The elderly will actually see a small increase in their ‘at risk of poverty’ rate, Ms Doorley said, while child poverty will decline by a small margin and all of the other groups, including people living with disabilities, are statistically unchanged.
“In advance of Budget 2024, there was a lot of talk that this would be one that would tackle child poverty,” Ms Doorley said. “And there’s not a lot of evidence of that in this package. There are many measures targeted at children and not to underplay their significance. But if there has to be any substantial reduction in child poverty over the next couple of years, more substantial permanent measures will be needed.
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