Analysis of EU-SILC data showed that at-risk-of-poverty and material deprivation of children increased during the pandemic, and that the effects intensified for traditionally vulnerable children. However, tax-benefit microsimulation (model EUROMOD) proved that COVID-19-induced policies and automatic stabilisers were partly effective in preventing a steeper increase in child poverty. Analysis of hypothetical reforms revealed that a transfer to children in low-income families would have been most cost-effective in preventing it further, pointing to a characteristic trade-off in policy design between means-tested and universal benefits.
