Increase in poverty is a wake-up call

THE Joseph Rowntree Foundation has said an additional 700,000 UK children and pensioners have fallen into relative poverty over the past four years.

Indeed, the charity said it was the first time in 20 years poverty in these groups had seen sustained rises.

This is totally unacceptable and must act as a wake-up call to the UK government.

According to the report, since 2013 an extra 300,000 pensioners and 400,000 children are now living in poverty and the “prospects for solving” the problem “currently look worrying”.

Despite the Government protecting the value of the basic state pension since 2010, Pension Credit, a benefit paid to the poorest pensioners, has not kept pace with rising costs.

Child poverty has also been driven by stagnant wages for low income families and a freeze on benefits and changes to tax credits, which many families, both in and out of work, rely on.

New threats to the poorest households include rising housing costs, higher food and energy bills, debts and not being able to contribute to a pension. It is a real struggle for thousands and thousands of people every day to make ends meets, and that number is rising.

Ending the benefits freeze is the single biggest change the Government could make to help those now living in poverty and it must do this now, before we push hundreds of thousands more people into the misery of poverty.

Alex Orr.