GMPA (now Resolve Poverty) has been supporting local authorities in Greater Manchester and across the country to introduce anti-poverty strategies. What role do local anti-poverty strategies play in helping individuals and communities? What can be learned from work that is currently being done? And what makes a good strategy?
The UK is wealthy, in terms of relative disposable incomes, median household incomes and the relative price of goods and services. But child poverty rates here, and child deprivation, are comparatively higher than in most rich countries in the European Union and OECD. Why is the UK’s initial child poverty rate before cash transfers in benefits and tax credits among the very highest in Europe? What role are these transfers playing to reduce child poverty? And what can we learn from other countries about reducing child poverty?
Struggling families would be substantially worse off than they were five years ago if benefits are not uprated with inflation, new analysis from Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) shows.
As more families migrate from older benefits to universal credit, new official figures show there are 2.3 million children in households on universal credit (UC) which are having debt deductions from their benefit, forcing them to live on significantly less than their entitlement.
People working in schools witness the impact of poverty on children and families on a daily basis, and the scale and severity of the problem mean schools are reeling up against it. To understand exactly how child poverty affects the whole school system in England, the Education Anti-Poverty Coalition, convened by Child Poverty Action Group, has conducted a first-of-its-kind survey of professionals working in every role in schools in England.
28% of tax credit claimants who are required to move to universal credit haven’t claimed and have had their benefits stopped and their cost-of-living payments also at stake.
Two-thirds of people sent a migration notice between November 2022 and March 2023 made a successful UC claim before their migration deadline. A further 5 per cent made a claim after their deadline had passed. And 28 per cent did not claim UC at all and had their legacy benefit payments terminated. We are concerned that a sizeable minority of claimants are falling through the gaps.
There is only one part of the school day that is means-tested – lunchtime. We believe that all school children should be offered a balanced and filling school meal each day without cost. But a third of school-age children in England (900,000) living in poverty miss out on free school meals.
The harms of the cost of living crisis are multiplied by the benefit cap and two-child limit, flagship policies of the welfare reform agenda which sharply sever the relationship between need and support provided by our social security system.
The benefit cap and the two-child limit has caused hardship to tens of thousands of families, with both policies failing to meet their original aims, according to the findings of a new study.
