TORY promises to reward working families are in tatters, it has been claimed, following a shock report that shows UK Government policies are likely to result in a million more children being pushed into poverty.
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) commissioned the Austerity Generation research, which has been produced over the last 10 years. It said the problem was only going to get worse as a result of cuts to tax credits and the roll-out of Universal Credit.
The SNP’s social justice spokesman at Westminster, Neil Gray, demanded Chancellor Philip Hammond use his Autumn Budget to reverse the reductions.
CPAG said the report, which is based on analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), shows the Tories are guilty of a “colossal failure of public policy” and have broken their promise to reward those who work.
The analysis found that working families will, on average, lose £930 per year through tax credits cuts and £420 a year from benefit cuts that accompany Universal credit.
CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham said: “Our report makes clear the grave consequences of a decade of cuts to basic help for families with children. Family incomes have been slashed and child poverty is set to rise steeply. The breaking of the link between housing benefit and actual rents has been another turn of the screw for families struggling to make ends meet.
“Our findings reinforce independent projections warning that the Scottish child poverty rate is set to rise by 26 per cent by the end of the decade.
“The Scottish Government’s pledge to end child poverty in Scotland has been made much harder by these policy decisions.
Gray said: “With families thousands of pounds a year worse off, and many households forced to rely on emergency aid and food banks just to get by, the Tory claim to make work pay lies in tatters.
“The UK Government must also finally listen and halt the disastrous roll-out of Universal Credit and fix these deep-rooted problems, before even more households are driven into hardship and destitution.
“The Chancellor must use the Autumn Budget to reverse these Tory cuts and take the long-overdue action needed to boost incomes.”
CPAG is also calling for Hammond to mount a “full-scale rescue mission” in his November 22 Budget.
Garnham said: “The Chancellor should restore work allowances, put a stop to the benefit freeze that’s squeezing families, and pledge to give children’s benefits the same protection from rising prices as is given to the basic state pension.
“If the Government’s flagship anti-poverty measure ends up rolling out poverty then it’s hard not to see that as a colossal failure of public policy.”
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