By IRNA,
London : Child poverty is costing the British economy at least Pnds 25 billion (Dlrs 40 bn) each year, according to a new report published Thursday.
Research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) estimated that about Pnds 12 bn of public funds went on services to help children from low-income families. It also put losses to UK GDP at about Pnds 11 bn through reduced earnings, and Pnds 3 bn in lost taxation.
Of the 13,233,320 children in the UK, it is estimated that 5,559,000 – more than a third – live in low-income families or families in poverty.
“Child poverty imposes huge costs on those affected but it is also costly to us all,” said JSF author of the report, Donald Hirsch said.
Hirsch also said that nobody can measure adequately the “cost in physical or emotional suffering of a toddler living in a damp or overcrowded home, or of a child growing up in a deprived community where hope of a better life is constantly crushed.”
The British government in 1998 pledged to halve child poverty by 2010 and abolish it by 2020, although there are strong doubts that such targets can be met.
But the report warned against any slackening of the targets, saying that the Pnds 25 bn annual cost can be seen as a “clear justification for making strenuous efforts” to eradicate child poverty.
The author said that getting rid of child poverty “will not be cheap, but this report shows that large amounts are being spent on paying for the fallout from child poverty.”
He estimated that child poverty adds Pnds 2.8 bn to the social services budget, Pnds 2.7 bn to the National Health Service, Pnds 2.9 bn to education, and Pnds 1.2 bn to the police and criminal justice system and Pnds 2.5 bn for other services.