Child Poverty Action Group is warning that the government’s child poverty strategy will most likely fail to reduce child poverty unless it scraps the two-child limit and has binding targets.
What is the evidence on the impact of the benefit cap on children and families in poverty? In particular, how do high housing costs affect experiences of the cap and people's ability to escape it? And why is it so important that the government scraps the policy?
There are 4.3 million children living in poverty in the UK today. These are record numbers, and without government action, child poverty is set to rise further over the coming years. The government has been clear about its commitment to drive down child poverty, and the commitment to developing a UK-wide child poverty strategy is a hugely positive step. It creates an opportunity to realise some of the change that children, families and the communities they live in so desperately need. However, a well-intentioned strategy will do little to effectively tackle child poverty if sufficient resources are not allocated. Increasing social security is the most cost-effective way to raise living standards and lift families out of poverty, and this means the priority for investment in the strategy must be the social security system.
Since water was privatised in 1989, household water bills have risen faster than the rate of inflation. On 19 December OFWAT announced an average increase in charges of 36 per cent above inflation over the next five years, with considerable variations between companies ranging from a 53 per cent increase for Southern Water customers to 21 per cent for customers of Northumbrian Water and Wessex Water. Across England and Wales, water bills will rise by an average of £123 a year from April.
I had an interesting meeting I wanted to tell you about. I had the opportunity to meet with the Minister for Employment and the Secretary of State for Education at 10 Downing Street.
Raising a child costs £260,000 for couples, £290,000 for a lone parent. The two-child limit leaves three-child, working families with huge income gaps. The PM’s milestones must bring concrete improvements for struggling families.
Responding to the Scottish government’s decision to mitigate the effects of the two-child limit, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said: 'The Scottish government has made the right decision but Westminster must now step up and scrap the two-child limit UK-wide.'
CPAG’s annual Cost of a Child report looks at how much it costs families to provide a minimum socially acceptable standard of living for their children. It is calculated using the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) research, carried out by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
