This particular
report has so many different 'costs' for tackling child poverty it's hard to make a reasoned response .
Does the Children's Commissioner want "$50 million to $60 million", "$159 million" or "$1.2 billion a year"?
Whatever it is, his suggestion for finding the extra money is ill-considered.
He suggested that the accommodation supplement could be cut for people
without children to help pay for it. The report says 58 per cent of
accommodation supplements are paid to people without children, 21 per
cent of whom are boarders.
On principle, why is it fair to punish those who don't have children to reward those who do?
In practice, many of those "boarders" are paying board to a sole parent on a benefit. The very people the Commissioner wants to give more money to.