Child Poverty Action Group

In response to Today’s Budget , David Holmes CBE, Chair of the End Child Poverty coalition, said:

“The good news on the minimum wage will help many but the bad news on tax credits and children’s benefits will mean families with children will be hit hard.  It is difficult to see how this will not impact on levels of child poverty. 

Responding to today’s budget Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said:

“The welcome move on a higher minimum wage cannot disguise the truth that this is a budget that damages the economic security of working families, and takes us further down the road to being a two-nation economy, with higher child poverty for millions and lower taxes for the better off. 

New research published today (Saturday) by the TUC and Child Poverty Action Group finds that much bigger reductions to child poverty could be achieved by channelling support through Universal Credit instead of raising the income tax threshold.

The report, Reforms to Universal Credit, looks at alternative options for helping low income families of almost identical expenditure to the current cost of immediately raising the income tax threshold to £12,500.

Responding to today’s  statement from Iain Duncan Smith on changes to the poverty measure, Chief Executive of the Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said:

“The Government is turning its back on poor children.  Only a year ago, the Secretary of State claimed the child poverty targets would be met but last week’s child poverty statistics showed that absolute child poverty has risen by half a million since 2010 and that progress on relative poverty has stalled.

Responding to the publication of the child poverty statistics, Chair of the End Child Poverty coalition David Holmes, said:

“The announcement that 2.3 million children are still living in relative poverty, and that half a million more are living in absolute poverty since 2010, underlines just how much further there is to go if we are to eliminate child poverty in the UK. It’s difficult to see how we’re going to make a difference to the childhoods and life chances of these millions of children without further concerted action at national level.”

Responding to today’s official poverty statistics (Households Below Average Income) Chief Executive of the Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said:

"These figures make grim reading for anyone looking for progress on child poverty.  Because, make no mistake, we are facing a child poverty crisis in the years ahead and the Government is not going to meet the child poverty targets it signed up to. Rather than opening up opportunity, the UK is now going down the road of closing down life chances for hundreds of thousands of children in low income families.

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s speech on opportunity, Alison Garnham Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said:

“Almost a decade ago, the Prime Minister spoke of poverty being a moral disgrace and an economic waste. That was right then and is right now. No road to opportunity starts with policies that may end leaving three million children in poverty. No moral mission involves taking away tax credits for our poorest children. No serious plan for the low paid begins with making them poorer by cutting their tax credits.“

• Risk of poverty increases by a third when working parents pay for childcare
• Pledged support under universal credit won't kick in for at least four years
• Leading charities urge government to bring forward support under tax credits.

CPAG Media Release

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) welcomes today’s Queen’s Speech measures to increase free childcare provision but criticised the decision to invest in raising the personal tax allowance threshold, as an expensive and poorly targeted measure which will benefit the lowest income families least.

CPAG’s Head of Policy Imran Hussain said:

Over two million children are in families that are cutting back on food or heating their homes as a result of the decision not to raise children’s benefits in line with the cost of living, new research from the coalition End Child Poverty reveals.