Universal credit rise lifted 400,000 children out of poverty, data shows

Rising food and energy costs, and below-inflation benefit rises, are expected to take their toll on household living standards. Picture posed by models. Photograph: Leila Cutler/Alamy

About 400,000 children in the UK were lifted out of poverty during the first year of the pandemic because of the government’s £6bn universal credit boost, official figures have revealed, amid warnings benefit cuts could push more than 1 million people below the breadline.

Statistics published on Thursday showed years of rising relative poverty were reversed after ministers introduced a temporary extra £20-a-week to universal credit in April 2020, together with extra housing support, furlough and other measures in response to the Covid outbreak.