Dr. Karina Doorley:

The research we did investigated the current system of child benefits, both in kind and in cash. We examined anything related to children, not the things specifically targeted at children but those that change depending on the presence and number of children. We investigated the system as a whole, distinguishing only between in-cash benefits and in-kind child benefits. We found that in-cash child benefits have the largest effect, having reduced the AROP rate by 10 percentage points. I am referring to the likes of child benefit, the one-parent family payment and the working family payment – all of those measures that represent an actual cash transfer to households. In-kind benefits, such as free school meals, free schoolbooks, GP visit cards and childcare subsidies, also have a measurable effect on child poverty, reducing the AROP rate by 1.5 percentage points.