Family Finances host House of Lords roundtable on impact of cash transfers to families
On 4th February 2025, Family Finances held a House of Lords Roundtable, hosted by Baroness Ruth Lister, to explore the impact of cash transfers to families with children.
The discussion took place in the context of the UK government’s development of a cross-departmental ten-year Child Poverty Strategy, due to be published in spring. This follows commitments in the Labour manifesto to ‘develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty’ and to ‘end the mass dependence on emergency food parcels’.
The roundtable provided an opportunity for Members of Parliament, House of Lords peers, government officials, researchers, and civil society representatives to hear about the Family Finances project - a comparative mixed-methods study examining the effects of the Scottish Child Payment (SCP) on families. The session featured contributions from researchers, a parent with lived experience of the SCP, and other stakeholders.
During the Q&A discussion, there was widespread agreement that ensuring families have access to adequate resources cannot be delayed. It is critical not only for children’s present realities but also for their longer-term aspirations and outcomes.
The discussion also reinforced that redistributive policies do not hinder, but can promote economic growth. As the UK government finalises its Child Poverty Strategy, the roundtable reinforced the importance of generating evidence to inform policy-making.
Read more about this roundtable event
Family Finances is a collaborative project with academics and policy partners at the University of York, the London School of Economics, and the Child Poverty Action Group. The project investigates the impact of the Scottish Child Payment on financial and emotional wellbeing and employment using a comparative, mixed-methods approach. The project is funded by the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, and the Cost of Living Research Group at the University of York.