Ministers urged to raise child payment ‘as soon as possible’
Holyrood ministers are being urged to meet their pledge to double the payment made to needy parents as soon as possible.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation think tank made the call at the same time as it urged the Ukgovernmentto"dotheright thing" and commit to keeping the£20uplifttouniversalcredit.
Universal Credit payments were increased in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the UK Government now plans to remove this at the end of September - a move already branded"indefensible"bythescottish Government.
Chris Birt, deputy director for Scotland at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, warned such a move would see millions of familiesacrosstheuk"seriously unable to meet their needs".
Meanwhile some 60,000 people in Scotland - including 20,000 children - could be
left worse off by the change, the Scottish Government has warned, with social security minister Ben Macpherson branding it the "worst possible move at the worse possible time".
The Scottish Government has already introduced the £10 a week Scottish Child Payment, to help low income families with children.
The payment is currently made to those with youngsters under the age of six, though ministers plan to expand it to older children in 2022, with the Snpalsohavingpledgedtodouble the payment to £20 a week in the Holyrood election campaign - though no date has yet been announced for this.
Mr Birt said: "It's not too late for the UK Government to do the right thing and keep the £20-a-week increase to Universal Credit and prevent millions of families being left seriously unable to meet their needs.
"If this cut to Universal Credit goes ahead in October, all the promised doubling of the Scottish Child Payment will achieve is to reverse the effects of this damaging cut.
Mr Macpherson said: "The Scottish Government is doing everything it can to tackle child poverty with the limited powers and resources at our disposal. In February, we delivered on our landmark commitment of a Scottish Child Payment - and we are expanding it even further during this parliamentary term.
"But our anti-poverty efforts arebeingseriouslyundermined by Westminster cuts."