In a sweeping move that has drawn both praise and criticism, the UK government has unveiled a far-reaching child poverty strategy it claims will lift more than half a million children out of poverty by 2030. The announcement, made on December 4 and 5, 2025, by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his cabinet, marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing struggle to address child homelessness and deprivation across England and Wales.
At the heart of the new plan is a commitment to reverse years of austerity-driven policies, most notably the scrapping of the controversial two-child benefit limit—a measure introduced in 2017 under then-Chancellor George Osborne. This policy restricted Child Tax Credits and Universal Credit to the first two children in a family, a move widely criticized by anti-poverty campaigners for exacerbating hardship among larger families. According to The Mirror, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the reversal at last week’s Budget, a decision welcomed by charities who had campaigned vigorously against the cap. The government estimates this change alone will lift 450,000 children out of poverty at a cost of £3 billion.
Prime Minister Starmer, writing for The Mirror, underscored the moral urgency of the mission. "This is Labour’s ultimate cause – our moral mission. We tackled it under the last Labour Government. And my Government will do the same," he declared. Starmer did not mince words about the legacy he inherited, calling it an "absolute disgrace" that the Conservatives left office with a record 4.45 million children living in poverty. "No child should be forced to sleep in cold bedrooms, skip meals, or wear worn-out uniforms for school," he added.
Official figures released earlier this year paint a stark picture: 172,420 children are living in temporary accommodation, with 3,340 households with children residing in bed and breakfast (B&B) lodgings. By law, such accommodation is meant to be used only in emergencies and for no longer than six weeks. Yet, as of March 2025, just over 2,000 households with children had been in B&Bs beyond this legal limit—a figure that, while down 45.1% from its June 2024 peak, remains troublingly high.
Labour responded to this crisis by piloting an emergency reduction scheme across 20 local authorities with the highest use of B&Bs. The results have been promising: the number of families in B&Bs beyond the six-week limit has declined since June 2024, and the overall number of households in B&B accommodation dropped by 22.4% compared to the previous year, now accounting for 10.8% of all temporary accommodation. The number of households with children in B&Bs decreased by 43.5% to 3,340.
To build on this progress, the government announced an £8 million investment to extend these reduction pilots for the next three years. The aim is not just to reduce the use of B&Bs but to end the "unlawful placement" of families in such accommodations beyond the legal limit. According to The Big Issue, this funding will also support new legal duties for councils, requiring them to notify schools, health visitors, and GPs when a child is placed in temporary accommodation—a move campaigners have long demanded.
Matt Downie, chief executive of the homelessness charity Crisis, welcomed these measures but stressed the need for deeper systemic change. "It is absolutely right that government is setting out an ambition to deliver the largest reduction in child poverty since records began. We back them to the hilt on this," Downie said. He criticized the government for failing to unfreeze housing benefit for renters and warned that housing affordability remains the root cause pushing children into homelessness. "What we need to see – and what we hope will be set out in the upcoming homelessness strategy – is a plan to tackle the underlying causes that are pushing children into homelessness at record-high levels. Much of this comes down to housing affordability. This is at the root of so many of these problems and has yet to be addressed by the government."
Shelter chief executive Sarah Elliott echoed this sentiment, agreeing that "living in temporary accommodation has a devastating impact on children’s lives. No child should be growing up in a B&B or mouldy bedsit." Elliott called for a greater focus on building social rent homes to "lift children out of homelessness altogether." She pointed to Labour’s earlier announcement of a £39 billion social and affordable housing programme as a step in the right direction but cautioned that "improving temporary accommodation will only ever be a sticking plaster solution. We need to get children out of temporary accommodation altogether and into a permanent home."
Beyond housing, the strategy also addresses barriers faced by families on Universal Credit. From 2026, rules will change to make it easier for parents returning from parental leave to cover upfront childcare costs, a move designed to help more parents get back to work. Downing Street acknowledged that parents often struggle to pay childcare fees before receiving their first paycheck, and the new policy is intended to ease that transition.
The government’s plan also includes a commitment to work with the NHS to end the practice of mothers with newborns being discharged to B&Bs or other unsuitable housing. As of March 2025, a staggering 41,250 households in temporary accommodation had been placed outside their local area, raising concerns about the impact on children’s health and education. Currently, GPs and teachers are not notified when a child becomes homeless and moves into temporary accommodation, despite the significant disruption this can cause. The new legal duty for a notification system aims to enable more joined-up support for these vulnerable children.
Dr. Laura Neilson, chief executive of the Shared Health Foundation and co-secretariat of the all-party parliamentary group on temporary accommodation, welcomed the practical measures. "Children living in temporary accommodation is a national scandal and needs to be consigned to history. All children should have somewhere safe to live, access to education and support. We encourage ministers to ensure that all actions announced today are implemented with urgency. We look forward to working closely with ministers and the sector."
Not everyone is convinced the government’s plan goes far enough. Lord John Bird, founder of The Big Issue and a crossbench peer who experienced poverty firsthand as a child, expressed concern about the absence of more ambitious targets. "The absence of ambitious targets to propel forward this government's mission to reduce child poverty is deeply concerning," he said.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, co-chair of the child poverty task force, described the strategy as "an historic moment for generations of families now and into the future." She added, "Child poverty is a stain on our country. I’ve seen the damage poverty does first hand, and bearing down on it sits at the very core of this government’s mission."
Katie Schmuecker of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation praised the government for "putting its money where its mouth is on the manifesto commitment to reducing child poverty." Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, also welcomed the scrapping of the two-child benefit limit and the expansion of free school meals, but emphasized the need for sustained action: "With record high levels of child poverty in the UK we welcome the government's recognition that publication of the strategy is only the first step. There is much to do and we must now build on this momentum to achieve more tangible change for children."
With around 4.45 million children living in relative poverty after housing costs and nearly two million in "deep material poverty," lacking essentials such as three meals a day or a damp-free home, the stakes could hardly be higher. The government’s new strategy has set the stage for what could be the largest reduction in child poverty in a single Parliament since records began, but as campaigners and officials alike acknowledge, the real test will be in its implementation—and whether it truly delivers lasting change for the country’s most vulnerable children.
