In response to the newly-published Households Below Average Income statistics for 2023/24, NCB has issued the following statement.
These new figures are a shameful reminder of what happens when Government leaves gaping holes in the social safety net. Millions of children and families continue to live in poverty in the world's sixth largest economy, and this news comes only one day after further cuts to welfare were announced by the Chancellor.
Recent welfare reform accountments have been a deeply disappointing move in the wrong direction, pushing - by DWP's own admission - 50,000 more children into poverty and making life harder for millions more.
The Government is preparing a Child Poverty Strategy while announcing changes that push more children into poverty, which is like designing a house while adding quicksand to the building site.
We will only see the true downward trend in poverty that children desperately need if the new Strategy sets out significant investment in social security and legally binding targets to tackle and eventually eradicate child poverty.
Every child deserves access to the best opportunities in life, but today's figures show millions are left out. We need bold, ambitious and urgent action from the government to reverse this trend.