"The UK government's new strategy has the potential to deliver a sea change in addressing child poverty," says the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O'Flaherty in a memorandum following his visit to the United Kingdom from 30 June to 4 July 2025.
The memorandum acknowledges a significant recent shift, including the measures taken after the visit, in the government's approach to tackling child poverty, and outlines the critical steps still needed to resolve the ongoing challenging situation.
"Addressing the root causes of child poverty requires a human rights-based approach to ensure that no child, including regardless of their background or disability, is left behind ", the Commissioner states.
He warmly welcomes the UK government's decision to abolish the two-child limit on social security payments and the publication of the strategy "Our Children, Our Future: Tackling Child Poverty".
To build on current momentum, Commissioner O'Flaherty calls for full political priority to be given to the implementation of the strategy, and to ensure all necessary resources are allocated to this.
Recommendations for a human rights-based approach
Key recommendations include:
- Adopt a human rights-based approach for implementation of child poverty measures, including by introducing mandatory child rights impact assessments and by ensuring close attention to children from particularly affected groups.
- Elaborate clear and measurable child poverty reduction targets and timelines, and consider embedding these in legislation.
- Strengthen international and domestic legal frameworks for combating child poverty, including by ratifying the Revised European Social Charter and by incorporating relevant international instruments in domestic law.
- Build on the abolition of the two-child limit by addressing further issues such as:
- Remove the benefit cap and ensure that the level of social security payments is sufficient to provide an adequate standard of living.
- Use the ongoing review of health and disability related benefits as an opportunity to reduce poverty.
- Carry out a comprehensive review of the No Recourse to Public Funds policy, which severely impacts on children with certain migration statuses.
- Improve the accessibility of the social security system and reconsider potentially unreasonable sanctions currently in place.
- Read the memorandum on child poverty in the United Kingdom
- Read the reply of the authorities of the United Kingdom
For more on the Commissioner's visit to the UK, read his end-of-visit statement
