Government must act on Committee's call for increased minimum wage and higher benefit levels, say child poverty campaigners

The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland today welcomed a report on Poverty in Scotland from Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee.

The Group particularly welcomed the MPs’ recognition that “work is not an automatic route out of poverty” and that that those unable to work ”must be lifted out of poverty through the benefits system”.

John Dickie, the Head of CPAG in Scotland, called on the UK Government to provide the “generous, wholehearted benefits” that the MPs say are needed to protect those unable to work, and to implement the Committees’ recommendation that the minimum wage “should be fixed at a level so that no one in full time work is living in poverty.”

“This report is a real contribution to the fight against poverty in Scotland”, Mr. Dickie said. “Government must now respond to the Committee’s call for a level of minimum wage that would lift all full time employees and their families out of poverty and a benefits safety net that would genuinely protect all those unable to work. This action could not be more urgent at a time when low pay and inadequate benefits leave nearly a million people in poverty in Scotland, a quarter of them children.”

MPs’ call for ‘poverty proofing’ could not be more timely

According to Mr. Dickie the Committee’s call for greater “poverty proofing” of government policies could not be more timely. UK Government proposals to reform benefits for lone parents, published last week, risk plunging families into deeper poverty, he says.

“The latest DWP proposals to attach even more conditions to lone parent benefits are a prime example of a lack of ‘poverty proofing’. The DWP reforms are detached from reality, based on a fantasy of childcare that does not always exist and family friendly employers that too often aren’t there. They will worsen child poverty by taking lifeline benefits away from thousands of poor families. That is why this Committee’s findings are so important. Real ‘poverty–proofing’ would prevent such counter-productive policies.”

Call for a “coherent ant-poverty strategy”

Mr. Dickie, who gave evidence to the Committee, also welcomed the MPs call for a “coherent anti-poverty strategy”.

“Half of children in poverty live in working families so a coherent anti-poverty strategy must include action from Holyrood, Westminster and local councils to end low pay, insecurity and discrimination and to ensure family friendly employment practice.

The current welfare safety net leaves too many families on hopelessly inadequate incomes. We need a strategy that increases benefit and tax credit support rates, and for the Scottish Government to make sure advice and information is provided to families facing poverty who are missing out on the vital financial support they are entitled to.”

Media contacts:
John Dickie, Head of CPAG in Scotland on 0141 552 3656 mobile 07795 340 618

Notes for editors

1. See in particular paragraphs 10, 40, 48, 60 and 145.
2. The Department for Work and Pensions ‘Ready for Work: full employment in our generation’ proposals were published on 13 December see http://www.dwp.gov.uk/welfarereform/readyforwork/
3. CPAG in Scotland submitted written evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee enquiry into Poverty In Scotland see http://www.cpag.org.uk/scotland/SAC_Poverty_submission_1006.doc and gave oral evidence on 20 March 2007, see http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmscotaf/uc168-vii/uc16802.htm .