Over three million UK children live in poverty. Professor Tess Ridge’s research illustrates that understanding the impact and experience of poverty from the child’s perspective is essential for developing effective policies and services to improve children’s lives.

Her research and knowledge exchange have directly influenced national and local government policies for low-income children. Policy-makers now listen to children's perspectives as they develop policy, incorporating statutory consultation with children into key initiatives such as the Child Poverty Strategy. This has significantly improved the quality of life of children and families in poverty.

An ESRC review of the impact of their funded research on the development of child poverty policies names Professor Tess Ridge as one of a few academics to have made "significant research contributions to the development of this emerging policy area".

Impact case study

This research was submitted to the Research Excellence Framework 2014.