EU funding for child poverty going unspent, peers warn

A letter from the EU Home Affairs sub-committee to Victoria Atkins, minister for crime, safeguarding and vulnerability, says nearly £550,000 has already been "wasted" from the Fund For European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) allocation to the UK.

It warns a similar amount could be lost again unless the government draws up a funding programme before the end of the year.

FEAD addresses the "worst forms of poverty" in European Union member countries such as food deprivation, child poverty and homelessness.

More than £3.5m was allocated to the UK for 2014 to 2020 to be used in community projects to tackle these issues.

However, the group of peers said it was "extraordinary" that the UK had failed to develop a suitable FEAD programme in nearly six years and €600,000 of funding had gone unspent.

"The EU committee has been concerned by the government's inability to find a use for the UK's €3.96m FEAD funding allocation for some time.

"We note that a further €600,000 of the pot will be lost if the UK is unable to spend this sum by the end of 2019," the letter states.

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The government announced plans to use the funding for school breakfast clubs in deprived areas but later said such schemes were not considered eligible for FEAD funding.

Lord Jay of Ewelme, the committee's chair, said it rejected the government's explanation that the eligibility rules of the fund were too restrictive and its administrative requirements "too burdensome".

Other member states had been able to implement "many and varied" FEAD activities, he said.

He called for the government to clarify how the UK's access to FEAD money would be affected in the event of a "no-deal" Brexit.

The Home Office has said it intends to use the funding for projects to support young refugees or "potential victims of modern slavery, some of whom are unaccompanied children and young people".

However, Lord Jay criticised the government for the time taken to find an alternative use for the funding.

"The proposed programme to support young refugees and potential victims of modern slavery is very welcome, but it is astonishing that it has taken the government so long to come up with a possible FEAD project.

"With the prospect of a 'no-deal' Brexit on the horizon, the committee has called for urgent clarity on how this would affect the UK's access to FEAD money. The clock is ticking," he said.

Campaign groups are backing the committee's calls for urgent action to be taken to prevent the funding going unallocated.

Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said it was "disappointing" that funding earmarked for children growing up in poverty had not been used effectively.

"Taking action on child poverty should be a priority for the government. After the scale of recent cuts and freezes to social security support for children and their families - now almost £40bn a year - even a modest package of reinvestment could make a difference," she said.

She urged the government to introduce financial measures such as removing the two-child limit and benefit cap, restoring and uprating child benefit and the child element in universal credit as well as reinstating the higher payment for the first child in universal credit.

This would lift 700,000 children out of poverty and increase family income by an average of £1,000 per year, she said.

"Investing in children is an important first step for a government that wants to reunite the country," Garnham added.

Research published in May shows child poverty is becoming the "new normal" in many parts of Britain, with one in 40 council wards having a majority of children living below the breadline.

Areas in London such as Tower Hamlets and Newham had child poverty rates of more than 50 per cent after housing costs are taken into account.

Dr Sam Royston, director of policy and research at The Children's Society said:  "It a national shame that more than 4 million children are living in poverty in the UK today.

"To hear much needed money, designed to alleviate some of these issues, may be given back because the government has been unable to find a use for it is truly shocking.
 
"It is welcome to hear that there are plans to use this money to support unaccompanied children - but these plans need to turn into action.

"We want every unaccompanied child to be provided with an independent legal guardian to protect and support them."