Public sector pay freeze puts ‘550,000 children in poverty’
ONE in seven children of public sector workers will soon live in poverty due to Tory pay freezes, a study reveals today.
Some 550,000 children with a parent working in the NHS, schools or councils will be below the breadline by April, according to TUC research.
Since 2010, an extra 150,000 children have been pushed below the breadline as a result of the Government’s public sector pay squeeze and in-work benefit cuts. Families where both parents work for the state are the biggest losers with an average household income down around £83 a week in real terms. TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Public servants shouldn’t have to worry about feeding or clothing their kids. “Ministers must give public sector workers the pay rise they have earned. If they don’t, more families will fall into poverty.”