A charity set up to defend UK children who are growing up in poverty has called on the government to do more to protect 3.6 million children in families living on universal credit from the effects of sharp rises in the cost of food, energy and other basic essentials.
In a press release that details the huge scale of the problem and the current and looming cost pressures, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) calls for benefits to be increased by 7 per cent rather than the planned 3.1 per cent when they are uprated in April - at a time when inflation is expected to hit 7.25 per cent.
CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham spells out the predicament facing more than two million families:
The families behind today’s figures have no shelter from the storm. They are facing even higher prices and a real terms cut in social security support. Unless the Government acts, the children in those families will feel the effect, as parents are forced to cut back even more on food, heating and basic essentials. Increasing benefits in line with the expected inflation rate this Spring is the minimum protection needed and would send a signal to desperately worried families that they have not been forgotten.