Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what step his Department is taking to reduce the child poverty rate among families with three or more children.

The Government is committed to reducing child poverty and supporting all low-income families. We will spend around £276bn through the welfare system in Great Britain in 2023/24 including around £124bn on people of working age and their children.

From April, we uprated benefit rates by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions the benefit cap levels are also increasing by the same amount.

With 1.08 million job vacancies across the UK, our focus remains firmly on supporting individuals, including parents, to move into, and progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance of employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing the risks of child poverty and in improving long-term outcomes for families and children. The latest statistics show that in 2021/22 children living in workless households were around 5 times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than those where all adults work.

To further support those who are in work, including parents, from 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) increased by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW.

At the Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced an ambitious package of measures designed to support people to enter work, increase their working hours and extend their working lives.

We are investing billions in additional childcare support for parents of toddlers, investing in wraparound childcare in schools, and increasing financial support for, and expectations of, parents claiming Universal Credit. For those who are on Universal Credit, we are increasing the childcare maximum (cap) to £951 for one child and £1,630 for two or more children and paying childcare costs up front when parents move into paid work or increase their hours.

This government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living which is why we are providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals with the rising bills. Included within this support is Cost of Living Payments totalling up to £900 in the 2023-24 financial year for over 8 million UK households on eligible means tested benefits and a £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment for over 6 million people across the UK on eligible ’extra-costs’ disability benefits.