Child Poverty Action Group

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has strongly criticised the government’s decision, announced today, to cut local authorities’ budgets for discretionary housing payments by 24% (from £165m in 2014 -15 to £125m for 2015-16)1

• 1. Discretionary Financial Assistance Regulations 2001 SI No. 11167 p1599

Responding today to reports that the Government wants to impose a more severe benefit cap of £23,000 pa per household, Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said:

“Let’s be absolutely clear. The benefit cap is at least nine times more likely to affect children than adults (1), and the majority of adults it hits are lone parents, many of whom have children so young even the Government recognises they should not be required to work.

Child Poverty Action Group has criticised the Government’s decision to maintain the cut in funding for local welfare assistance schemes (LWAs), announced today by Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Kris Hopkins in the Provisional Local Government Finance Settlement.

The council-run schemes succeeded the Social Fund in 2013 and can grant moderate amounts to people in critical need. (1)

Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said:

Responding to the APPG’s report on food poverty, Feeding Britain: A strategy for zero hunger in England, Scotland and Wales, Alison Garnham Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said:

“The report is absolutely clear that there is growing hunger in the UK, that tackling it must be a national priority and that fixing the administration of benefits will remove a key trigger for food bank use.

Responding to today’s Autumn Statement, Alison Garnham Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said:

 

“It’s striking that the only giveaway for children was for families who can afford to fly them abroad on holiday. For millions more children, today’s Autumn Statement is about staying the course for poverty rather than prosperity.

 

Commenting on today’s NAO progress report on Universal Credit, Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said:

“It is really disturbing that at this stage the NAO must ask for confirmation of the DWP’s plans for delivering Universal Credit in terms of its cost, timing and how it will work.

The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) today launches an innovative online welfare rights information and advice service for advisers and claimants.

Ask CPAG Online offers up-to-the-minute, expert information on the big issues affecting benefits and tax credits claimants, as well as tailored email advice for advisers.

Gaps in the social security safety net are a key reason why people are turning to food banks, according to the first in-depth study into the personal experiences of recipients of emergency food aid in the UK.

The findings of the jointly commissioned research published today by Oxfam, Child Poverty Action Group, Church of England and The Trussell Trust, also highlights some relatively simple fixes to the benefit system that could dramatically reduce the number of people who are left with little or no money to put food on the table.

Commenting on a BBC report today suggesting Government is considering cutting Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Alison Garnham Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group said:

 “The proportion of people in absolute poverty in families living with disability has gone up each year since 2009 and now stands at a shocking 22%1. Any cut in support would make it very much harder for families already reeling from austerity blows and would surely fail any credible family test.”

• 1. Households Below Average Income: An analysis of the income distribution 1994/95 – 2012/13, Jane Carr, Rachel Councell, Mary Higgs, Nancy Singh

Responding today to the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission’s recommendation that the legally binding target to end child poverty by 2020 needs to be revised given the failure to make progress, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham said:

“We have failed a generation of children who are growing up poor but we will fail them a second time if we bury our heads in the sand and pretend that the 2020 targets will now be met.