Work and pay

In response to the publication of the DWP impact assessment on the Welfare Benefits Uprating Bill, Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: “We know this is a bill which will make many people poorer so it is simply indefensible that the Government has, at the last minute, published an impact assessment that says nothing about poverty.

A new report reveals that the government’s welfare benefit uprating legislation is based on bogus claims and is a poverty-producing bill that will further exclude the poorest workers, jobseekers, carers and disabled people from the mainstream of society.

Despite all the talk, working families are once again at the front of the queue for spending cuts.

Commenting ahead of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty action Group, said: “We're looking for targeted help for families with children struggling to make ends meet as living costs rise. Ministers talk about helping the 'strivers', but the truth is that the 'strivers' keep being short-changed...

Commenting on the publication of the first official statistics on the performance of the Work Programme, Imran Hussain, Head of Policy for Child Poverty Action Group, said: “Most people leave JSA and get back into work very quickly. The work programme is meant to help those who face greater challenges getting into work, and on this it is clearly failing...

Low employment rates among mothers help explain why London has the highest child poverty rate of any UK region.

 Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, has responded to the Work and Pensions Committee’s report on implementation of Universal Credit. On the implementation programme for Universal Credit, she said: “Ministers risk a ‘told you so’ moment in the future if they ignore this constructive warning...

We are concerned that the Coalition is seeking to redefine child poverty instead of making genuine progress at a time when cuts, stagnating wages and a crisis in affordable housing are pushing poverty up.

Commenting ahead of the launch of a new government consultation on better ways of measuring child poverty, Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: "It's perfectly sensible to look at the progress the government is or is not making across a broad range of indicators affecting children and families...