Slava Samusevich/Shutterstock A new report from the Academy of Medical Sciences highlights the “appalling decline” in child health and a need for “urgent action”. In recent years, child vaccination rates have fallen well below World Health Organization target levels, creating a resurgence of outbreaks of serious disease such as measles. In England, more than one in five children are overweight or obese by age five and one in four children have tooth decay. Demand for child mental health services has surged. Perhaps most worryingly, the rise in infant mortality means that UK is now ranked 30 ou ..read more

Teens are more clued in to family finances than many people think. Olga Rolenko/Moment via Getty Images When parents try to shield their kids from financial hardship, they may be doing them a favor: Teens’ views about their families’ economic challenges are connected to their mental health and behavior. That’s the main finding of a study into household income and child development that I recently conducted with my colleagues. As a professor of psychology, I know there’s a good deal of research showing that young people who experience more household economic hardship tend to have more behaviora ..read more

For his directorial debut, British actor Daniel Kaluuya has teamed up with filmmaker and architect Kibwe Tavares and the musician and actor, Kano AKA Kane Robinson, in The Kitchen, a dystopian tale of community bonds and inequality, now out on Netflix. The story is set in 2044. The gap between rich and poor it portrays has never loomed larger. It has also never felt closer to home. The titular Kitchen is a brutalist former sink estate in south London. Surrounded by sparkling private apartment complexes, the people have been parked here in temporary housing by a government now bent on recuperat ..read more

The costs of raising children can strain a household's budget. Phynart Studio/E+ via Getty Images Influential lawmakers have struck a deal that could increase the extent to which low-income U.S. families can benefit from the child tax credit for three years. The Conversation asked Natasha Pilkauskas and Katherine Michelmore, public policy researchers at the University of Michigan, to explain what may change and why. Why does Congress want to expand the child tax credit? The child tax credit, first enacted in 1997, was originally designed to help middle-class families with the costs of raising ..read more

spixel/Shutterstock Millions of people in the UK are unable to meet their most basic physical needs: to stay warm, dry, clean and fed. This is known as destitution. Recent analysis from charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) estimates that around 3.8 million people in the UK experienced destitution at some point during 2022. This is a 61% increase since 2019 – and a 148% increase since 2017. Living in destitution means severe material hardship. The JRF’s 2022 survey of crisis service users in the UK found that 61% reported going without food in the month before the survey. They often put ..read more

With a National-led coalition government taking shape (how long it takes is another matter), the nation’s “squeezed middle” awaits the financial relief promised during the election campaign. As the lead party, National’s policies should be central to negotiations. For those without children, its proposed payment of the full Independent Earner Tax Credit for incomes between NZ$24,000 and $66,000 would kick in from April 1 next year. This would help some 380,000 people in low and modestly paid work with an extra $10 a week. It’s not a lot, but better than nothing. For those with children, Nation ..read more

Speakers at the 2023 Labour party conference have rightly addressed the economic insecurity affecting families across the UK. As winter approaches, many are at breaking point. One week earlier, however, the Conservatives were notably quiet on this point. And yet, the government’s own statistics show that four in ten adults are struggling with rent or mortgage payments and are buying less food when shopping. The government has implemented a range of measures to support people facing rising costs. These include direct support to households through the energy price guarantee, and cost of living p ..read more

Casual observers could be forgiven for thinking the National Party’s recently released Working for Families tax policy had been cut and pasted from the Labour Party’s own policy. The similarities are certainly striking. Both parties pledge to increase the “in-work tax credit” (IWTC) by NZ$25, to $97.50 a week from April next year. They also promise to raise the Working for Families (WFF) household income abatement threshold (above which payments start reducing at 27%) from $42,700 to $50,000 in 2026. In this strange pre-election coalescence, there is no longer even a pretence of delivering on ..read more

Labour’s shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said that a Labour government would not raises taxes on wealth, capital gains or higher incomes. She does not, she says, see “the way to prosperity as being through taxation.” Britain is asset rich. National wealth – a mix of property, business, financial and state assets – stands at almost seven times the size of the economy. That is double the level of the 1970s. This has not come about as a result of investment and productivity growth. Instead, much of this private-wealth mountain is unearned – the product of windfall gains, resulting from stat ..read more

Food insecurity can impact both a mother’s ability or decision to breastfeed, and also the ability to purchase baby formula. (Shutterstock) The Canadian government issued a one-time grocery rebate in July, targeted at low-income Canadians. While the rebate provided some relief to people struggling with soaring inflation, it is far from enough to address the depth of poverty and intensity of food insecurity faced by the lowest income Canadians. During the most vulnerable time of life, mothers and infants living on welfare are experiencing food insecurity, which can have lifelong impacts. Govern ..read more