2.6 million British children set for poverty by 2020, new report reveals

Over 2.6 million British children will be living in poverty by 2020 due to benefit cuts imposed by the Conservative government, according to a new study.

The poorest households, particularly families with more than two children and single parents, will be most severely impacted by another four years of Conservative government, research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has shown.

The report forecasts the percentage of children in relative poverty will rise by eight per cent and those in absolute poverty by three per cent by 2020-21. This will almost entirely be felt by families with three or more children, as the Department for Work and Pensions has decided to limit child tax credit and universal credit to families with two children from April 2017 under the Welfare Reform and Work Bill.

The suffering caused is not limited to this group, however. These planned cuts to welfare will counter the progress made in increasing incomes and lowering the number of people living below the poverty line in the last two years.

"The alarming figures are that by the end of this Tory government one in four children will be living in relative poverty, with a rise to 2.6 million children living in absolute poverty," said the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell.

"As the report clearly states, the government's planned tax and benefit changes are a major reason for these rises in relative and absolute poverty over the next five years."

Policy director at The Children's Society, Sam Royston, commenting on the report's findings, told local reporters: "The IFS figures forecast a shocking scale of child poverty in the coming years to levels that have not been seen this century."

It is a consequence of "the Government abandoning its promise to eradicate child poverty by 2020," he said.

Further cuts would push still more children into poverty, and "if minsters are genuinely concerned about child poverty the government needs to guarantee there will be no further cuts in the Chancellor's Budget later this month," Royston added.

James Browne, an author of the report, said the forecast for the next five years is less bleak for the better-off and state pensioners, as the stronger growth in household incomes over the last two years "is likely to continue over the next five years as earnings and state pensions grow more quickly".

Christians Against Poverty reported that there are already "hundreds of thousands of people being left dependent on emergency food aid because of problems in the system. These figures confirm that things are only going to get worse."

"We need urgent action to reinstate the benefits safety net that should ensure everyone in the UK has enough to survive," the charity said.

Bishops sitting in the House of Lords, led by the Bishop of Durham, Paul Butler, have raised "deep concern" about further attempts to reform laws affecting child poverty.

"I continue to have deep concerns about the impact of the [Welfare Reform and Work] Bill; I fear that it will lead to more children and families being poor," said Bishop Paul during a debate on Monday.

"I remain unconvinced that the measures in this Bill will have the complete effect that is suggested."

Butler also criticised the Bill's proposition to remove "family income" from the list of metrics used to measure the number of 16-year-olds living in poverty in the UK, on the grounds that academics and professionals were "almost unanimous" in considering income poverty a "big problem".

"To not take seriously the reality of financial poverty would be a major mistake", he said.