Poverty sets children up for a life of disadvantage.

Last November, the Institute for Fiscal Studies made the staggering assertion that in the next few years, 5.2 million children will be living in poverty in the UK.

This is hugely concerning on many fronts. First, poverty damages childhoods and life chances – it is a travesty of social justice that in one of the richest economies in the world, roughly a third of children live in poverty. Second, England is the only country in the UK without a national strategy aimed at tackling child poverty. And third, if some of the recent economic forecasts come to fruition, there is a very real risk this figure will rise further.