Debate contribution: Child Poverty

Debate contribution by Mrs Cathy Mason on 14 October 2025.

MLA

Mrs Cathy Mason

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

14 October 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Child Poverty

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5180694

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Poverty is something that no one should have to endure. When families are hit hardest and find themselves living in poverty, it is the children who have least control over their circumstances and who suffer most from them. Growing up in poverty means that children miss out on opportunities in the short term and in the long term. According to the 2024 Audit Office report on child poverty in the North, children living in poverty are more likely to have poorer health, educational, well-being and economic outcomes than their peers who are more well off. We live in a society in which two childhoods exist side by side. One is of comfort and opportunity, while the other is of quiet suffering. The difference between them often comes down to nothing more than the postcode in which they live or the family circumstances into which they were born. Poverty is a result of the failure of the system to protect every single child. Unfortunately, what we have seen from the Minister for Communities lacks ambition and substance. It does not address the real challenges that struggling families face. To put it bluntly, it is not fit for purpose. There is a clear missed opportunity to use childcare as a key tool for helping address child poverty. Minister Lyons has a part to play in delivering high-quality and affordable childcare. He seems, however, to have deflected his responsibility to the Minister of Education and his yet-to-be-seen early learning and childcare strategy. The decision not to increase the limit of the adviser discretion fund represents a missed opportunity to support parents who are facing significant barriers to employment. That fund acts as a lifeline for those struggling to cover costs associated with returning to work, including meeting upfront childcare costs.

Childcare often represents one of the greatest financial obstacles to re-entering employment. Maintaining the fund at its current level, despite rising living costs, undermines its effectiveness and limits the support available to families who need it most. Furthermore, the Minister's decision not to reduce the 15% childcare attainment gap for families on universal credit is another failure to address a key barrier to employment and early education. Universal credit covers up to 85% of childcare costs, but the remaining 15% very often amounts to a substantial portion of some household budgets. For many, that gap makes childcare financially out of reach, disadvantages children's access to early learning and prevents parents from re-entering the workforce. The ongoing high cost of childcare continues to make returning to work financially unviable and completely out of reach for many families, further entrenching inequality and constraining opportunities for those striving to improve their circumstances. We have seen that the Minister has instead placed all the anti-poverty strategy's childcare interventions into the hands of the Department of Education, and we have to blindly place full faith in a strategy that we have not yet seen. Delivery of the childcare strategy is long overdue. The strategy must reduce bills for parents, support struggling providers and give our children the very best start in life. The introduction of the childcare subsidy scheme was a very positive first step towards making childcare more affordable for families; however, the persistent high cost of childcare continues to put pressure on many families. High-quality, affordable childcare supports families who are balancing the demands of work and home life and plays a vital role in a child's early learning and development. We must see the long-awaited childcare strategy, and there can be no further delays. Yesterday, the affordable school uniforms legislation was yet another missed opportunity to tackle child poverty, to once and for all cut the cost of school uniforms and put money back into the pockets of workers and families. I call on the Communities and Education Ministers to listen to families and take the necessary action to give every child the opportunity to reach their full potential.

654 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 13:36 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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