Debate contribution: Child Poverty

Debate contribution by Mrs Michelle Guy on 14 October 2025.

MLA

Mrs Michelle Guy

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

14 October 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Opposition Business

Heading

Child Poverty

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5181041

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The tone of the debate so far has been as it should be: muted and respectful. I think that, fundamentally, we are all quite ashamed that we have to have a debate on child poverty. Of course, child poverty does not exist in isolation from wider poverty levels. It is a deep-rooted and complex issue that requires a whole-government approach, hence the need to deliver a focused and impactful anti-poverty strategy. Let us take, for example, the crucial aspect of affordable and quality childcare.

We have a system where the cost of full-time childcare makes it impossible for many parents to work full-time hours or access training and education. That impacts disproportionately on women, many of whom will give up on opportunities to change jobs, increase hours, take on training opportunities or start businesses simply because they cannot afford to do so. I fully acknowledge that the Northern Ireland childcare subsidy scheme is in place, but we need to think bigger than that and deliver a completely new system through the early learning and childcare strategy.

I want to focus on child poverty and education because, as the independent review of education highlighted, education can be the route through which people break out of the cycle of poverty and because of the impact that poverty has on a child's education. The Northern Ireland Audit Office report 'Child Poverty in Northern Ireland' states:

"Evidence shows that the gap in attainment between children growing up in poverty and their peers starts early and lasts throughout school. By the time they reach primary school, children from low-income families are already up to a year behind middle-income children in terms of cognitive skills."

The report adds:

"Children receiving Free School Meals are twice as likely to leave school with no GCSEs as their more affluent peers."

That entrenched link between educational disadvantage and economic circumstance has long been considered. We have the brilliant 'A Fair Start' report, which produced that rarest of things in Northern Ireland by way of a costed action plan, and the independent review of education, so we are not seeking policy answers. The experts have told us time and again what we need to focus on. So, too, have those with lived experience of poverty. For example, we know that educational attainment interventions start before a child is even born, ensuring that health support is there for women and families. Great work is going on in communities to ensure that, such as in my constituency, where Atlas Women's Centre and Resurgam Trust's healthy living centre wrap support around mums and families. However, that support needs to be expanded, and that can only happen in a reformed health system. Educational underachievement cannot be tackled through curriculum and assessment changes alone. School leaders will tell you that we need to focus on pastoral support and whole-community approaches. We need children who feel safe and secure inside and outside school. We need children who are not going hungry while trying to focus, which is one reason why the Alliance Party supports the expansion of free school meals. We need children who feel that they are getting the right support, whether from counsellors or speech and language therapists, and we need to reduce and remove the financial barriers that face families who are trying to access an education for their children. That means real action on the cost of school uniforms and other costs. I want to pick up on yesterday's debate on the School Uniforms (Guidelines and Allowances) Bill and the missed opportunity that the Bill represents. Most interventions to tackle poverty require investment, but that Bill could have delivered real certainty on affordability without costing the Department anything. We still wait to see the guidance, but, from what was said yesterday, it looks as though the Minister of Education is going to outsource responsibility for ensuring affordable uniforms to schools. I do not doubt anyone in the Chamber when they say that they want to reduce and end child poverty. The question is whether Ministers have the commitment to focus on the interventions that will make a real difference. We need money if we are to address those systemic issues.

Yes.

Thank you. I agree entirely with the Member. We cannot pretend that if you are going to tackle poverty, you do not need money and investment. Families and organisations are telling us that, and we have to acknowledge that that is a fact. In that context, where we need money if we are going to address those systemic issues, the urgency to integrate our society and public services and move away from the division and dysfunction that holds this place back becomes even more acute and necessary. We are up for that. I am not convinced that everybody else shares that conviction.

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

Assessment

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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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