CPAG's Budget submission

Summary of our recommendations

• Invest in children through social security. Not only will it immediately improve the standard of living for the 4.3 million children living in poverty in the UK but it also leads to healthier, more educated children, meaning higher economic growth and reduced costs for the government. 
• Scrap the two-child limit. The first step to reducing child poverty must be removing the two-child limit. Scrapping the policy today would instantly pull 300,000 children out of poverty and stop another 200,000 being drawn into poverty over this parliament. It is the key driver of rising child poverty today and the most cost-effective way to stop the number of children in poverty increasing. 
• Remove the benefit cap. The benefit cap affects the most vulnerable families across the country. Removing the cap would substantially reduce the depth of poverty for 300,000 children affected by the cap.
• Raise child benefit by £20 a week. It is not just families in poverty who have been struggling the past few years. Increasing child benefit by £20 a week would pull 600,000 children out of poverty, reduce the depth of poverty for millions more, while also supporting middle-income families struggling with living costs.
• Roll out universal free school meals across England. Combining universal free school lunches with breakfast clubs ensures that no child misses out on meals at school – boosting pupils’ learning, reducing the pressure on household budgets and supporting the relationships between parents and schools by removing challenges around dinner money debt.
• Provide permanent ring-fenced funding for local crisis support. The six-month extension of the Household Support Fund is a welcome lifeline, but a long-term sustainable funding settlement is needed urgently for local crisis support, so that no families fall through the net. 
• Lower deduction payments. Half of all children living in families on UC receive deductions to their UC award. The total amount lost by families is £100 million a month (£1.2 billion a year) 
• Reduce barriers to work for parents. Currently too many parents are held back in the labour market – removing these barriers through tailored employment support, better childcare provision and improved financial incentives mean higher living standards and higher economic growth.
• Introduce an ambitious child poverty strategy. We welcome the creation of the child poverty taskforce and forthcoming child poverty strategy. The effectiveness of the strategy will depend on resources being allocated to support meaningful action across government to reduce child poverty, including investment in the social security system, and design features such as clear leadership, infrastructure across central government, co-ordination across devolved governments and local authorities as well as ambitious targets.