Alison Garnham, CPAG Chief - Expresses Budget Disappointment

Responding to today’s Budget, Child Poverty Action Group Chief Executive Alison Garnham said:

“This Budget puts the next generation last and set to be the poorest generation for decades.  The Chancellor ignored both the 3.7m children in poverty now and the fact that according to IFS projections we face the biggest increase in child poverty in a generation.   

“The Chancellor delivered some big investments for the better off but there was little here for hard-up parents trying to get better off by earning more.    Children were prioritised behind business groups who got costly tax cuts.

“Increasing the personal tax allowance is an expensive way to badly target help for the low paid. It is simply not a social justice measure when 85 per cent of the £2 billion the Treasury spends goes to the top half and a third goes to the top 10 per cent. For every £1000 the personal tax allowance goes up, basic rate taxpayers gain £200, but Universal Credit rules will claw back 65 per cent of that gain from the low paid, leaving them only gaining a maximum of £70 a year.

“Improving children’s life chances starts with ensuring families have enough money.  That means restoring cuts to Universal Credit – which from April will hit the very same working families as would have been hit by the now abandoned tax credit cuts – and re-investing in children’s benefits.  

Extended schools:

“Parents are crying out for more free, quality childcare so that they can work more hours while their children are well looked after.  Many parents will welcome the extension to the secondary school day. If are to tackle child poverty and close the attainment gap between low-income kids and their better off peers, we need to see bolder decisions and a bigger investment in childcare so that every family who needs a childcare place can get one.”

Help to save:

“It’s right to help hard-up families to save but in the real world the Chancellor’s universal credit cuts will leave many working parents with nothing extra to put aside.   If he wants to help families save the Chancellor should end the discrepancy which leaves Universal Credit claimants subject to far harsher rules on savings compared to their counterparts on tax credits.

“The triple lock on pensioner’s income has achieved huge falls in pensioner poverty.  Extending the same protection to children must now be the priority.”

And from Scotland

BUDGET 2016: “Budget sets next generation up to be the poorest for decades” say child poverty campaigners

Responding to today’s Budget,  the Director of Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, John Dickie, echoed those points:

• Child poverty projections:

The IFS projects a 50 per cent increase in relative child poverty – from 17.0 per cent in 2014-15 to 25.7 per cent in 2020-21 – and an increase in absolute child poverty from 16.7 per cent in 2014-15 to 18.3 per cent in 2020-21. The latter will mean that over a decade, the income of families towards the bottom of the income distribution has actually gone down – something without precedent in modern times. The Resolution Foundation’s Autumn 2015 projections suggest 200,000 more children will fall into poverty in 2016/17 as a direct result of measures in the Summer Budget. The projections below are based on income before housing costs are deducted.