Two hundred thousand more children will be pushed into poverty if benefits rise in line with wages rather than inflation, new analysis suggests.
Campaigners have warned “U-turning on children’s futures cannot be an option” as ministers face calls to stick by the former chancellor’s pledge to increase the welfare payments in real terms next April. Prime Minister Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng have so far not ruled out taking a different course, with reports suggesting benefits could instead go up in line with the average increase in workers’ pay.
But analysis has found this would push 200,000 more children into poverty, almost all of whom would be in families with at least one working parent. The research, by the Child Poverty Action Group, is based on earnings rising by around 5 per cent and inflation running at roughly 10 per cent.
