Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he will take to help take children out of relative and absolute poverty.

The Government has consistently said that the best way to support families’ living standards is through good work, better skills, and higher wages.

This is why, at Autumn Statement 2022, the Government announced it will bring forward the nationwide rollout of the In-Work Progression offer, from September 2023. This will mean that over 600,000 Universal Credit (UC) claimants in-work will meet with a dedicated work coach so that they have support to increase their hours or earnings and become financially independent from UC. This is in addition to the Government’s existing, comprehensive package of labour market support, worth over £6 billion, to help people into work and develop the skills they need for the modern workforce.

From 1 April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) will increase by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over, in line with the government’s ambitious target for the NLW to reach two-thirds of median earnings by 2024, and for the age threshold to be lowered to those aged 21 and over. This represents an increase of over £1,600 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW and is expected to benefit over 2 million low paid workers.

The Government also provides a range of support for low-income families with children, including over £200 million per year for the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which provides healthy food and enriching activities for children from low-income families in England during the school holidays. The government also spends around £1 billion annually on delivering free meals to pupils in schools.

More broadly, the Government has taken decisive action to support millions of households with rising energy costs. As announced at Autumn Statement, the Government is providing households on means-tested benefits with an additional £900 Cost of Living Payment in 2023-24 with additional payments for pensioners and those on disability benefits. The government will also provide an additional £1 billion to enable a further twelve-month extension to the Household Support Fund, as well as continued universal support via the Energy Price Guarantee, saving the average household £500 over 2023-24. To protect the most vulnerable in society, the government will also increase benefits by September CPI (10.1%) from April 2023.