Many of the childcare changes announced are a big step forward and also create opportunities for the Scottish government to go further and faster with its currently more generous and fairer universal childcare offer. But the stringent UK job-search requirements for parents on universal credit (UC) are concerning and overall the package is far short of what struggling families needed as they face another year of high inflation.
It’s a relief that benefits and the benefit cap will rise with inflation. But this is only the fourth time benefits have risen by inflation in the last ten years and as a result of austerity - that today the chancellor praised - there are almost 4 million kids living in poverty in the UK. Today’s package will not stop the ice from cracking under struggling families.
DWP figures out today show 4 million children are in households on universal credit facing big income cuts if benefits are not uprated with inflation in Thursday’s Autumn Statement. Twenty-nine per cent (1.15m) of these children are aged four or younger.
An estimated 1.8 million households on universal credit (UC) are having to live on significantly less than they are entitled to because the DWP is deducting debt repayments from their benefits at an unaffordable rate, according to new CPAG estimates. There are an estimated 2 million children in these households.