Displaying items by tag: child poverty

The Trussell Trust is calling for urgent government action in the autumn budget to tackle soaring hunger across the UK. Its landmark study, Hunger in the UK, reveals that 14.1 million people, including 3.8 million children, faced hunger in 2024 due to insufficient income. This represents one in six households, and is a rise from 11.6 million in 2022. Foodbank reliance is growing, but many go without help, believing others are in greater need. The crisis hits children under five and disabled people hardest, with nearly three quarters of foodbank users living with disabilities. Alarmingly, 30% of those referred are from working households, showing that employment is no safeguard against hardship. Universal Credit is failing to protect families: over half of recipients experienced hunger last year. With households left with only £104 a week after housing, Trussell says poverty is about income, not food supply. They urge scrapping the two-child limit, reforming Universal Credit, and uprating Local Housing Allowance to prevent hunger from becoming routine.

Leading UK charities are urging Keir Starmer to urgently scrap the two-child benefit cap, warning it could push child poverty to record levels by the end of this parliament. A letter signed by organisations such as Barnardo’s, Save the Children, and Citizens Advice has told the Government that removing the cap is the most cost-effective measure to reduce poverty. The two-child limit, introduced in 2017, restricts child tax credits and universal credit to the first two children in most households. Critics argue this penalises larger families and disproportionately affects low-income homes. The End Child Poverty Coalition predicts the long-awaited child poverty strategy may not appear until June, while the Child Poverty Action Group estimates child poverty could rise from 4.5 million to 4.8 million children by 2029. Scrapping the limit could lift 350,000 children out of poverty overnight and lessen the severity for 700,000 more. While the Scottish government has pledged to mitigate the policy, nationwide reform remains uncertain and urgently needed.

Senior faith leaders from the UK’s six major religions have united to urge the Government to adopt a bold child poverty strategy. In an open letter to Bridget Philipson and Liz Kendall, 35 faith leaders, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Bishop of Leicester Martyn Snow, called for transformative action. With 4.3 million children currently living in poverty and projections indicating another 400,000 could be affected by the end of the decade, they said that poverty reduction is a moral imperative for a compassionate society. The letter expressed hope that the forthcoming strategy could mark a turning point, encouraging partnerships across society to ensure every child has a fair start in life. It references the 'Paying the Price' report by Action for Children, advocating reforms in social security and housing to lift 1.2 million children out of poverty by 2030. Some saw scrapping the two-child benefit cap as a crucial step in this process.