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.
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.
Families in 2022 are facing the greatest threat to their living standards in living memory. Much has been written about these pressures, but to put them into context, we need to understand what has been happening to children’s and families’ costs in recent years. The Cost of a Child reports have been produced annually for a decade, and this 2022 edition presents the latest evidence of what families need as a minimum, and how this compares to the actual incomes of low-income families.
A briefing for the debate in the Scottish Parliament: Progress on the Automation and Take-up of Scottish Social Security Benefits, looking at the importance of data sharing for automation, and the importance of universalism for take-up.
Child Poverty Action Group, Age UK and Save the Children have produced a joint briefing on the importance of uprating all benefits and the state pension in line with inflation.
"The cost of living crisis has pushed many families to the brink as a difficult winter looms. With around 2 million children living in households affected by deductions, the Work and Pensions Select Committee is right to say that now is time to pause these repayments.
The Front-loaded Child Benefit Bill is a Private Members’ Bill introduced by Lord Farmer (Conservative). It aims to allow recipients of child benefit to receive, if they wish, a higher rate of child benefit when a child is younger, in exchange for a lower rate when the child is older. This would be an alternative to the current system whereby a flat rate is paid throughout childhood. The second reading will take place on Friday 8 July.