Cash for families that beat poverty trap

from The Times Online

Philip Webster, Political Editor

Extra cash payments worth about £2,000 a year could be made to the lowest income families if they look for work, go on training schemes or acquire fresh skills, under plans being considered by Gordon Brown.

In what the Prime Minister terms a new programme to tackle child poverty, he will tell Labour activists today that he is looking at ways in which the Government can intervene – as in Scandinavia and New York – to help problem families to help themselves.

The incentives, which could also be paid if parents ensure that their children have regular health checks, are aimed at hauling families out of poverty.

Proposing a “contract out of poverty” between the State and low-income families, Mr Brown will say that while the Government will do all it can to liberate people from poverty, they must do all they can to help themselves as well.

Mr Brown’s speech will be a tacit admission that his crusade to end child poverty by 2020 needs additional momentum. A target to reduce it by one million by 2005 was out by 300,000, and the Conservatives claimed this month that it was rising again.

Hinting at additional state support Mr Brown will say it is the Government’s responsiblity to ensure that work pays for families with children in poverty, that work must be a route out of poverty, that the Government will look at helping parents who have a skills assessment and then take training to improve their job prospects.

Ministers are examining a scheme introduced in New York by Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor, called Opportunity NYC, which is testing whether temporary cash payments that provide incentives for work, education and health activities can help to combat poverty. This is aimed at specific inner-city areas, with high and persistent poverty. It covers 2,500 families.

Participating families receive bimonthly cash payments in return for specified activities, such as staying in full-time work or undertaking training. In the New York scheme, the payments will be available for two to three years, depending on available funding.

The actual payment amount per family will depend on the degree to which a family participates in the activities. They receive between £2,000 and £3,000 a year for ensuring regular health and dental checks, meeting their children’s teachers and doing activities to help themselves out of poverty.

The Government will look at whether elements of the programme relating to job training and work participation can be built on in particular areas in Britain.

Ministers are also anxious to learn from “family centres” in Scandinavia, where child poverty is among the lowest in Europe. The high-quality child-care and early years services in these countries mean that more women can work and families can earn more and move out of poverty.

Addressing the Welsh Labour conference in his first big party speech of the year, Mr Brown will say that for those families who are struggling the most the Government will offer more help.

He will pledge to build on successful programmes of support, such as family intervention projects, brought in to help families involved in persistent antisocial behaviour, but in return the families themselves must commit to play by the rules.

Mr Brown will say that “we’re just half way there to the opportunity revolution our country needs. An opportunity revolution to drive social mobility forward – which is the great mission of the next decade. For Labour, this is an enduring dream which is now a national imperative. For we are and have always been the party of opportunity for all.”

Mr Brown will say that a big rise in applications for university admissions is a vindication of Labour’s decision to make increases in student maintenance grants for the coming academic year. “As a result of the changes we made, two thirds of new students will now be entitled to maintenance grants. Now we are seeing the fruits of that policy,” he will say. “I want to go even further in future in supporting more young people, especially those from deprived communities, go to university and realise their full potential.”