Missed target

Organised by the North East Child Poverty Commission, this regional conference will highlight that we have now reached 2020 – the year by which child poverty was once due to be ‘eradicated’ and yet some 4.1 million children across the country, including over 209,000 in the North East, are still growing up poor.

With the title ‘Child Poverty 2020: Still Here and Rising’, the conference will consider not only why the 2020 target has been so badly missed and the impact of this on the more than 35 per cent of children living in poverty in our region, but – crucially – what action should now be taken to address existing levels of child poverty and to stop it rising even further, as currently predicted.

High profile keynote speakers joining the event will be:

• Alison Garnham - Chief Executive of the leading national charity, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG)
• Rt Revd Paul Butler – Bishop of Durham and Patron of the North East Child Poverty Commission
• Anna Turley – Labour and Co-operative MP for Redcar from 2015-19, and former Labour Government Special Adviser on Child Poverty and Social Exclusion

Panellists at the conference include Professor Liz Todd, Director of Newcastle University’s Institute for Social Science. Professor Todd will be joined by Prof. Greta Defeyter (Director, of Northumbria University’s Healthy Living Lab and recently named one of The Big Issue’s ‘Top 100 Change Makers for 2020’), Beth Farhat (Regional Secretary, Northern TUC), Tracey Herrington (Manager, Thrive Teesside), Satty Rai (Northern Housing Consortium), and Alice Wiseman (Director of Public Health, Gateshead).

Importantly, the conference will also hear the views of young people from the region on this issue, facilitated by the charities Children North East, Youth Focus: North East and Youth Homeless North East.

Urgent priority

Jane Streather, Independent Chair of the North East Child Poverty Commission, said:

"We’ve now reached 2020 – the year by which child poverty was once due to be history – and yet more than one in three children in our region are still growing up poor.

"This is completely unacceptable in one of the largest economies in the world, and we want this conference to help put child poverty and how we tackle it back on the local, regional and national political agenda.

"We know that child poverty can be tackled in this country because we have done so before, and we can – and must – choose to do so again. But that requires political will and joined-up thinking at all levels of government, and we will be using this event to continue to press for child poverty to be tackled with the urgency and priority it requires."

Tracy Shildrick, Professor of Inequalities at Newcastle University and Commission member, said:

"We are proud to host the North East Child Poverty Commission at Newcastle University, as part of the University’s wider commitment to social justice and working in partnership with organisations across the region to support this.

"This conference will play a really important part in helping to inform the Commission’s future work and will give us a powerful platform from which to continue to push for change."

Wide range of organisations

The event will be formally opened by Newcastle University’s Dean of Engagement and Place, Professor Jane Robinson, and it is taking place with the support of the University’s Institute for Social Science.

Delegates attending the conference on 24 January represent a wide range of sectors and organisations from right across the region, including community groups, local authorities and combined authorities, charities, children’s and youth organisations, social workers, universities and education, trade unions, cultural organisations, the NHS, business, housing bodies, faith groups and politicians.

The North East Child Poverty Commission is a network of public, private and third sector organisations dedicated to building support for actions that improve the lives of children and young people living in poverty in the region. Since 2019, it has been hosted by, but is independent of, Newcastle University.