More than a fifth of UK's austerity children' scarred by poverty, study says

"The austerity-era growth in children exposed to poverty for most of their formative years was a significant social problem that would cause long-term harms to their health, education and life chances."

"As a consequence, long-term poverty was now a defining factor in the childhood of about 23% of British youngsters."

"Our study shows that policy matters; when support for families on low incomes is stronger, long-term childhood poverty falls."

"Austerity cuts masterminded by the former Tory chancellor George Osborne and the ex-welfare secretary Iain Duncan Smith included the benefit cap, the bedroom tax, the two-child benefit limit, cuts to the generosity of universal credit, and years of benefit rate freezes."

Research indicates that over 20% of British children have faced poverty for at least half of their childhood due to austerity measures. Policies like benefit freezes and the two-child limit have increased the number of children living in hardship. The University of Oxford study highlights that these austerity measures have resulted in long-term negative effects on children's health, education, and future opportunities. The findings emphasize the importance of welfare support in reducing childhood poverty rates.

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