1.146 The Government is committed to tackling the causes of poverty and to ensuring that children born in low income families realise their full potential. Taking account of the uprating measures set out earlier in this section, around 80 per cent of households with children will see their tax credits awards increase at least in line with projected average earnings growth next year.3
1.147 As set out in Budget 2011, the Government has developed improved ways to measure poverty and social mobility. The child poverty strategy sets out a new approach to address the underlying causes of poverty.4 The Government will report progress on this in line with the Child Poverty Act 2010. The Government's actions will focus on helping families to find a route out of poverty and targeting investment, for example in early years education and health visitors, to give children the best start in life.
1.148 Consistent with this new approach, the Government will invest a further £380 million a year by 2014-15 to extend its new offer of 15 hours free education and care a week for disadvantaged two year olds, to cover an extra 130,000 children. This doubles the offer announced at the Spending Review, reaching around 40 per cent of all two year olds in England by 2014-15. This is in addition to investing over £7 billion in a "Fairness Premium" to support the prospects of children from low income families at every stage of their education - through free education and care at age two, funding for a Pupil Premium for school age pupils and a new national scholarship fund to support students in higher education.
1.149 Further information on the estimated impact of the Autumn Statement is available in Impact on households: distributional analysis to accompany the Autumn Statement 2011.5
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3 HMRC analysis using tax credits administrative data.
4 A New Approach to Child Poverty: Tackling the Causes of Disadvantage and Transforming Families' Lives, Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Education, April 2011.
5 Available on the HM Treasury website at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk.