Rising child poverty across rest of UK suggests Scottish policies are helping families but campaigners say new data must act as a “stark reminder” more is needed to meet legally binding child poverty targets.
“If the Scottish government can manage to drive down child poverty through the Scottish child payment there is absolutely no reason UK government cannot provide equivalent investment”
Charity’s briefing to MPs warns of ‘catastrophic’ results if UK government policies continue to ignore children in poverty. Budget must scrap the two-child limit, remove the benefit cap and increase child benefit by £20 a week.
It’s right that benefits are uprated as usual but this should never have been in doubt and legislation mandating inflationary increases is needed as a basic protection for living standards. Struggling families have been worrying themselves sick for months about whether an unmanageable income cut was coming in order to provide the government with a rabbit-out-of-the-hat moment.
CPAG in Scotland’s Early Warning System has been operating for ten years! Over Challenge Poverty Week we are looking back at some of the social security events in this period, key findings from the Early Warning System and how they have influenced policy and practise.
A family’s ability to get universal credit is often based not on their actual circumstances, but on a fictional version of their circumstances. Welfare rights worker Carri Swann explains.