Poor Families Set to Lose Out Despite £1,200 Boost, Warns New Report
The government’s extra £1,200 payment to the poorest households this year won’t cut it, a new analysis reveals. From October 2021 to October 2022, families face three brutal blows to their income that far outweigh the payout.
Cost of Living Crisis Hits Poor Hardest
- The scrapping of the £20-a-week Universal Credit uplift.
- Benefit increases lagging behind soaring inflation.
- A sharp hike in the energy price cap.
Together, these factors leave struggling families unable to plug the growing financial gap.
Gordon Brown Sounds Alarm Over Flat-Rate Payments
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who commissioned the report, warns the richest households also face serious losses, thanks to the government’s flat-rate payments that ignore different household needs and sizes.
For instance, couples with three kids are losing almost as much from rising prices as they did from last year’s benefit cut.
An unemployed couple with two children faces losses of nearly £1,300. If you account for the fact inflation hits poorer families harder, that figure jumps to £1,600.
The energy price cap rise could account for £800 of these costs—and it might climb higher still.
Inflation Increase Falls Short of Reality
The report flags an official April 2022 benefit hike of just 3.1%—starkly lower than the 9% rise in Consumer Prices Index inflation over the previous year.
Urgent Calls for Government Action
“It is the next prime minister’s urgent task to ensure that families have enough to live on, through this crisis and beyond,” Brown said. “This paper outlines the gap the government must close before another wave of rising costs overwhelms people.”
Professor Donald Hirsch of Loughborough University authored the report, backed by 56 groups including charities and faith organisations.
Isabel Hughes from the Food Foundation slammed the findings as “alarming” and called for urgent support measures.
“There is now a very serious shortfall in support for families most in need,” she said. “Expanding free school meals to millions more poor children is crucial. A hot, nutritious meal is the fastest way to stop an under-nutrition crisis that could devastate a generation’s education, health, and future.”
The report delivers a stark warning: without tailored support, millions of struggling UK families risk being left behind as the cost-of-living crisis deepens.
