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Responding to today’s publication of official 2011/12 child poverty statistics for Scotland and the rest of the UK, John Dickie, Head of the CPAG in Scotland, said: “Any reduction in child poverty in 2011/12 is welcome but is overshadowed by frightening Institute for Fiscal Studies forecasts of a massive surge in child poverty as UK tax and benefit changes kick in." Read more

The government has published the most recent child poverty figures for the UK in its report Households Below Average Incomes 2011/12. 66% of poor children live in working families.

The poll, released by the End Child Poverty Campaign, shows 82 per cent of people view child poverty as a priority.

The Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, made a major speech on social security, in which he renewed his commitment to child poverty reduction as a top priority for a future Labour administration.

CPAG comments on reports that the Labour Party has no plans to restore child benefit in full to all parents.

The high levels of child poverty in the UK are currently costing the country at least £29 billion a year – or £1,098 per household – according to new research released today by Donald Hirsch of Loughborough University.

Do investments in services such as children’s centres reduce child poverty more effectively than supporting families' incomes?

CPAG in Scotland today responded to the publication of new projections of a massive rise in child poverty in Scotland and across the UK, prepared as part of wider UK forecasts by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The forecast predicts nearly 30% of Scotland’s children will be living in poverty by 2020, up from the latest official figure of 21%.

A new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts that relative child poverty will increase by 34% and absolute child poverty will increase by 55% in the decade from 2010-2020.

A new report Will Universal Credit Work?, published by the TUC and CPAG, finds that this new benefit risks failing even on its own terms unless adjustments to its design are made and broader policies to tackle the causes of poverty are put in place.