Challenge
Child poverty rates have risen considerably in recent years. In 2023/24, there were 900,000 more children in relative low income after housing costs than in 2010/11, and two million children in deep material poverty.1 To directly tackle this issue, the Government created a new Ministerial Taskforce to oversee the development of a Child Poverty Strategy in July 2024. The Child Poverty Strategy is aimed at addressing systemic drivers of poverty.2 The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) commissioned Verian to set up a forum of parents and carers to input into the strategy.
The Parents and Carers Forum focused on collecting insights on how the Strategy can help to reduce essential living costs and increase financial resilience among low-income families.
Approach
We conducted 40 one-hour interviews with parents and carers to understand how they manage and prioritise their essential costs such as housing, food and utilities. Recognising that debt and a lack of savings can play an important role in one’s ability to afford essential living costs, we also explored participants’ experiences of owing money, their ability to save, and how they coped with unexpected financial shocks such as job loss or relationship breakdown.
To make sure we reached families in material poverty, we recruited participants based on their response to the material deprivation questions used in the Family Resources Survey (FRS) which collects the data used to estimate the poverty statistics.3 Out of these, 11 questions were related to the household and 11 were related specifically to children. Material deprivation is a measure of whether families can afford certain essential items, for example whether their children eat fresh fruit and vegetables every day, and whether they and their children have enough clothes that they feel comfortable to wear. It therefore reflects a broader range of financial pressures, such as high costs and debt burdens that income-based statistics alone do not fully capture.4
We recognised speaking to parents and carers about their financial challenges could be upsetting and it was important to adopt a trauma-informed approach to the research. We used sensitive language throughout the discussions, and the fieldwork team reflected the language used by participants to describe their own experiences. Participants were offered breaks and were provided with a comprehensive list of support organisations, agreed in advance with DWP, before the interview. They were also signposted to these organisations at the end of each interview.
Impact
The research has given a platform for voices of parents and carers to feed directly into the new Child Poverty Strategy published in December 2025. The insights from parents and carers specifically fed into understanding what poverty means for families, the challenges in balancing childcare and work, and how to tackle rising living costs. The measures outlined in the strategy aim to lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030.5
Lead Analyst for the government’s Child Poverty Unit said:
“The insights from this research were invaluable in informing the development of the Child Poverty Strategy. Hearing directly from parents and carers gave us a real understanding of the challenges families face, ensuring the Strategy is grounded in real experiences and policy making focussed on what families told us matters the most"
Read the Child Poverty Strategy here.
References
[1] Department for Work and Pensions (2025). Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics for 2023/24. Available at: Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2024 - GOV.UK
[2] Department for Work and Pensions (2025). Deep Material Poverty: FYE 2024. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/deep-material-poverty-financial-yearending-2024
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-resources-survey--2
[4] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/deep-material-poverty-financial-year-ending-2024/deep-material-poverty-financial-year-ending-2024
[5] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/over-half-a-million-children-to-be-lifted-out-of-poverty-as-government-unveils-historic-child-poverty-strategy
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