Section 6: The persistent poverty target
21.Section 6 sets the persistent poverty target. This target relates to the percentage of children living in households whose equivalised net income has been less than 60% of median equivalised net household income for at least three out of the past four years. The target is included because longer periods in poverty can have a significant detrimental impact on children’s experiences and life chances. Research shows that children who live in persistent poverty are likely to be at risk of worse outcomes than those who live in temporary poverty, for example, being suspended or expelled from school (11% compared to 6%) or living in bad housing (48% compared to 33%).(1)
22.Subsection (3) provides for the target percentage to be set by regulations which must be made before 2015. The target level cannot be set in primary legislation because the required data is not yet available. As stated in paragraph 12, data will be derived from the new survey Understanding Society. The Government expects that sufficient data will be available before 2015.
23.Subsection (5) provides that, instead of exercising the regulation-making power provided in subsection (3) to set a target percentage relating to persistent poverty, the Secretary of State may instead substitute a different persistent poverty target.
24.Subsection (6) provides that regulations under subsection (5) may only be made before 2015 and with the consent of the Commission.
The Circumstances of Persistently Poor Children: Evidence from the Families and Children Study, DWP Research Report 487, 2008