TACT disappointed government will not publish life chances strategy

Author: TACT Communications

TACT is greatly disappointed by the government’s decision to abolish the cross-departmental child poverty unit, and to not publish its strategy to boost the life chances of the poorest children in the country. It is understood that the government will instead bring forward a social justice green paper in the new year.

Andy Elvin, chief executive of TACT said: “The life chances strategy and the child poverty unit were the two planks of government approach to tackling the rampant inequality in the UK.  By side-lining these and replacing them with a nebulous social justice paper the government have clearly shown they lack any meaningful commitment to improving life chances for families who are ‘just about managing’, let alone those who are not managing at all.”

He added: “Radical solutions, such as the basic minimum income, are required to address the entrenched social inequality in the UK.”

The life chances strategy, which was first announced by former Prime Minister David Cameron in January, was initially intended for publication in the spring.

The strategy had been due to feature measures designed to address child poverty, including a plan to significantly expand parenting provision, and potentially introduce a voucher scheme for parenting classes. The government had also said it would contain future policy on children’s centres, a consultation on which had been due to launch in autumn 2015. But in June it emerged that publication of the strategy had been placed on hold in the wake of the result of the EU referendum.