Call For 'Bold and Ambitious' Poverty Strategy

Tuesday March 25 2025

Faith leaders from across the country joined forces on Sunday in an urgent call for the UK government to go further and be ‘bold and ambitious’ in its forthcoming Child Poverty Strategy.

The call is shared in an open letter to the co-chairs of the Ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce, Bridget Philipson, Secretary of State for Education, and Liz Kendall, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

The letter is signed by 35 faith leaders from all six of the major faith traditions represented in the UK, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg OBE, Director of Islamic Relief UK Tufail Hussain, Director of the Network of Sikh organisations UK, Lord Singh of Wimbledon, President of the Hindu Forum of Britain, Trupti Patel, and President of the Buddhist Society, Dr Desmond Biddulph.

It has been signed on behalf of the Church of Scotland by Emma Jackson, convener of the church’s Public Life and Social Justice Programme Group.

It states: “We write to you as faith leaders from communities across the UK, to encourage you to be bold and ambitious in your upcoming Child Poverty Strategy.”

Currently 4.3 million children in the UK are living in poverty, according to a new report from Action for Children, and without further action a further 400,000 are likely to be pulled into poverty by the end of the decade.

The letter continues: “While we come from different faith traditions, we share a belief that working to end poverty should be a hallmark of any decent, compassionate society. We also believe that transformational change is possible. We are hopeful that the Child Poverty Strategy could be a turning point for the communities we serve, and we are ready to work in partnership with people of goodwill across society to ensure that every child has the start in life they deserve. We anticipate your strategy and pray that it will rise to the challenges we face.”

Life and Work is the magazine of the Church of Scotland. April issue out now.

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