It’s a relief that benefits and the benefit cap will rise with inflation. But this is only the fourth time benefits have risen by inflation in the last ten years and as a result of austerity - that today the chancellor praised - there are almost 4 million kids living in poverty in the UK. Today’s package will not stop the ice from cracking under struggling families.
It’s a relief that benefits and the benefit cap will rise with inflation. But this is only the fourth time benefits have risen by inflation in the last ten years and as a result of austerity - that today the chancellor praised - there are almost 4 million kids living in poverty in the UK. Today’s package will not stop the ice from cracking under struggling families.
The UK government’s benefit cap, two child limit and young parent penalty all undermine Scotland’s national child poverty mission. They hurt the very families rightly identified as ‘priority groups’ in the Scottish government’s child poverty plan. Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland, One Parent Families Scotland and The Poverty Alliance have organised a fringe meeting at the SNP conference to discuss the impact on children and families and discuss how the policies can be challenged at Westminster, and their effects mitigated by Holyrood and local government.
Households subject to the benefit cap will from April be battling the cost of living crisis £65 worse off than they would be if they were not capped, unless the cap is uprated, new analysis from Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) finds.
Removing the cap would mean an additional £65 a week, on average, in the pockets of capped households, meaning an average capped couple with 2 children would be £85 below the poverty line.
A short Cost of the School Day briefing setting out what we’ve heard about school uniform from learners, families and their schools and what we think is important for stakeholders to bear in mind when responding to the current Scottish Government consultation on statutory national uniform policy guidance.