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• 16May2011

  The time is now: get literacy on the agenda of your child poverty partnership

  Posted by Emily McCoy

  Local councils want more guidance on reducing child poverty, according to the Local Government (LG) Group. Is now the moment to push for literacy to be a priority in strategies to combat child poverty?

  The Child Poverty Act 2010 places legal obligations on councils to tackle child poverty, by completing an assessment of local need and developing a joint strategy through child poverty partnerships. The Local authority progress in tackling child poverty report, commissioned by the Local Governemnt Group, found that as well as guidance on tackling poverty in austere financial conditions, councils want advice on ensuring initiatives provide value for money and help with presenting business cases.

  The government’s recently published strategies on child poverty and social mobility state the gap in educational attainment as a key factor. The emphasis on early language development and the new key indicator around school readiness at age five underlines the importance of literacy in delivering on child poverty.

  We believe that inter-generational low literacy and poor home learning environments undermine attempts to raise social mobility in this country. Literacy skills do not just enable educational attainment; they underpin strong family relationships, better health choices and an individual’s capacity (and confidence) to gain employment. How can poverty be tackled without an explicit focus on literacy?

  We have been working with local authorities and their partners to explore how to raise literacy levels through a joined-up local focus on literacy. This is a value for money approach resting on greater partnership working and better targeting of literacy support. We have recently reviewed this work and our report provides a route map for how literacy can be embedded in wider priorities, such as child poverty. Authorities are required to assess local needs as part of their child poverty strategies. How many undertake a literacy needs assessment as part of this? Our report, Local authorities improving life chances: A review of a new approach to raising literacy levels, sets out how this has been undertaken in local areas.

  Existing policy statements show that the government is committed to ending poverty through interventions rather than by focusing on increasing household income. Those who want to raise literacy levels may think about how they can work with partners to incorporate literacy, and specifically literacy in the home, within the following interventions and services; Family Nurse Partnerships, health visitors, children’s centres, spend of Pupil Premium, extended free childcare and the work of local businesses which may be influenced by the new Compact with Business on Social Mobility. Our report talks about how partnerships are increasing literacy levels.

  The government sees entrenched poverty as resting on low achievement, low aspiration and low opportunity across generations. Literacy has a vital role to play in addressing all three. Now seems to be the time to push this agenda locally and nationally.

  The Local Government Group’s report, Local authority progress in tackling child poverty, can be viewed at www.lga.gov.uk/lga/aio/18268653

  Emily McCoy, Comunities and Local Areas Manager

Tags: Communities and local areas, Policy

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