Racial inequalities in child poverty are particularly stark, with over half of children from Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds likely to grow up in poverty. Economic structures that reinforce gender inequality and entrench systemic racism mean that certain groups, including women, children and Black and minority ethnic families are much more likely to be living in poverty.
Our interviews show that claimants did not have the information they needed or wanted to understand how moving to UC would affect them. Such misinformation and misunderstanding are likely to be reasons some people are not moving to UC despite having a strong financial incentive to do so.
The chancellor has done the bare minimum that is needed to prevent faster rises in child poverty. There are 4.2 million children living in poverty in the UK today. Ensuring benefits catch up with inflation, and increasing local housing allowance (LHA), will come as welcome news to the millions of families on the lowest incomes who have been left worried sick as speculation about benefit cuts and freezes played out in the news. Increasing these benefits should never have been in doubt, and we urge the government to ensure benefit uprating is placed on a statutory footing to avoid this process being repeated in future years.
In his Autumn Statement, the chancellor should invest in children by increasing social security benefits – reducing child poverty immediately and leading to higher long-term economic growth, as well as improved education and health outcomes, including life expectancy.