More than two million children could be at risk of hunger and cold because of the stranglehold on children’s benefits, campaigners have revealed.
The Government has frozen and then capped any increase in child benefit, while making similar changes to working tax credit.
What parents are cutting down on
End Child Poverty
When End Child Poverty asked 1,000 parents how they had reacted, one in five said they had cut back on food and a similar proportion had turned off the heating.
This is equivalent to one and a half million parents across the UK, with two and a half million children.
One in three parents also said they’d dropped family trips or outings.
The poorest families are cutting down the most
End Child Poverty, families on £15,000 a year or less
End Child Poverty chair David Holmes said: “It is deeply worrying that parents are having to cut back on food, heating and other essentials that their children need in order to develop and thrive.”
The Government froze child benefit in 2010, and then in 2012 capped any increase over the next three years at 1% - regardless of how fast other prices rose.
It decided on a similar cap for working tax credits.
Working families on low incomes got poorer 2015
£513.35
less in benefits
End Child Poverty, based on two working parents earning £600 a week with two children
The Government says it has helped working families by increasing the amount we can earn before we are taxed.
But End Child Poverty argues this does not help the poorest families, because they never earn enough to benefit anyway.
And because most means-tested benefits are paid on earnings after tax, families that do benefit appear richer - so they lose out on benefits.
In fact, End Child Poverty estimates these families will only keep 15% of any gain from the tax-free allowance because of what they miss out on in benefits.
We’re unlikely to see meaningful increases in benefits any time soon. So if you haven’t already done so, start budgeting.
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