Child Poverty and Social Mobility: Lessons for Research and Policy

15 April 2016 - What are the implications of increasing family diversity on children's life chances? How is family change influencing social inequality? A one day conference organised by CPC's Professor Ann Berrington and Dr Susan Harkness (University of Bath) explored these issues.

The conference brought together academics and decision makers to help improve our understanding of both the causes and consequences of declining social mobility and child poverty in Britain. Speakers assessed the influence that family change has on these trends and consider how best policy makers might now respond.

Professor Ann Berrington commented 'We are delighted to be able to host such a relevant conference here at the University of Southampton. The bringing together of leading UK experts in the field of family change and inequalities is a unique opportunity for practitioners, decision makers and academics to come together, assess progress and discuss new ways forward for the benefit of society'.

Sessions at the conference included:

• "Diverging destinies in international perspective: Education, family structure, and child poverty" Juho Härkönen (Stockholm University)

• "Family instability throughout childhood: new estimates from the British Household Panel Survey and Understanding Society" Mike Brewer (Centre for Micro-Social Change, University of Essex)

• "Partnership Dynamics and Inequality" Brienna Perelli-Harris (University of Southampton)

• "Mind the "gap": Marriage, maternal nativity, and child obesity in the UK" Wendy Sigle (LSE)

• "Parenting and contact across separation" Tina Haux (University of Kent)

• "Lone Parenthood and Children's Cognitive Outcomes in the UK, Evidence from the 1958, 1970 and 2000 birth cohorts" Susan Harkness (University of Bath)

• "Inequalities in transitions to adulthood" Ann Berrington (University of Southampton)

• Roundtable table discussion: "Future Directions and Policy Implications". Led by Dalia Ben Galim, Head of Policy and Research, Gingerbread

The conference was part of a wider series of events funded by the ESRC and co-ordinated by the Centre for the Analysis of Social Policy, University of Bath and the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission. It was supported by the Institute for Policy Research and the ESRC Centre for Population Change.

View the full programme here.

Posted 03/03/2016 09:27