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Iain Duncan Smith has been forced into a humiliating u-turn on plans to scrap a legal requirement to publish child poverty figures.

The Welfare Secretary wanted to remove the obligation for the Government to publish levels of income-related child poverty as part of his Welfare Reform and Work Bill.

A child is currently recognised as being below the poverty line if its household income is less than 60% of the median income.

This yardstick, known as 'relative poverty' is the internationally recognised measure, used by all OECD countries.

But the Government wants to scrap child poverty targets being measured in terms of money - but by counting the number of workless families and monitoring levels of education along with other social factors.

Under pressure from Labour and campaigners, the Government have backed down on the change, and will still be required to publish data on the percentage of children living below the poverty line.

But the Work and Pensions Secretary will not have to come to the House to let MPs scrutinise the figures.

The Department for Work and Pensions insists they never planned to stop publishing the figures, but the new amendment will force them to do so.

But they still plan to scrap targets for reducing levels of child poverty in terms of household income.

And the Work and Pensions Secretary will deliver reports to the Commons on 'life chances' statistics, based upon the wider definition.

(Image: PA)

Owen Smith MP, Labour's Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: "This represents a big victory for the campaigners that have come together to demand the Government meaningfully monitors child poverty.

We support their recommendations and hope that the government will stand by its promise to support the most vulnerable groups in the UK.

"Efforts led by the Labour Party , our Peers, the Bishop of Durham and the charity sector have together forced the Tories to climb down on their bid to cover their tracks on child poverty. They will now be legally bound to keep monitoring child poverty and Labour will be sure to hold them to account for their failures to address it.

"I'm proud that Labour lifted over a million children out of poverty and proud that we continue fighting to do all we can to tackle it."

Leading medical journal The Lancet today backed the findings of an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) inquiry into the impact of the Welfare Reform and Work bill, which raised serious concerns about the scrapping of targets.

Read more:Iain Duncan Smith is trying to erase the words 'child poverty' from the Child Poverty Act

They said: "The elimination of UK child poverty would save the lives of 1400 children aged younger than 15 years every year.

"However, the combined effect of the changes proposed by the Bill would significantly reduce the income of thousands of already struggling families, increasing child poverty and exacerbating the many risks to children's health and wellbeing.

"We are not surprised by the APPG's findings, but are concerned by them, and the fact that child poverty targets have been removed."

A DWP spokesperson said: “This Government is dedicated to eradicating child poverty and improving children’s life chances, and we strongly believe that we must tackle the root causes of poverty, rather than just the symptoms.

"Our new measures will be the foundation of a new, comprehensive approach to improving children’s life chances and will drive effective Government action.

"But we’ve always been very clear that we will continue to publish low income statistics.”

Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: “This is a good and welcome step and we’re pleased that the campaigning work we and others did has helped to secure it. A legally binding duty to publish child poverty statistics reflects the overwhelming view of experts and charities that child poverty must be prioritised and that money matters when we’re discussing child poverty.

“However, the parliamentary time spent repealing the targets on child poverty shows the Prime Minister’s legacy call for an all-out assault on poverty is in deep trouble.

“Child poverty is projected to rise from 2.3m to about 3.8m children by 2020, as a result of the government’s own tax and benefit policies.

“Official statistics measuring child poverty are crucial, but the number one priority has to be urgent and substantial action from government when we’re facing the biggest increase in child poverty in a generation.

“We need a broad, evidence-based approach on poverty and life chances, not one which sidelines child poverty because the outlook here is getting bleaker by the day.”