Charity warns families will be worse off if benefit payments are not uprated with inflation next April

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has warned that struggling families face being substantially worse off than they were five years ago if benefits are not uprated with inflation.

The campaign group voiced concerns that the UK Government has not yet said it will be uprating benefits next April by this September’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rate - due to be announced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on October 18 Its study showed that benefits would need to increase by eight per cent next April to keep up with prices or almost 10 per cent to keep up with earnings.

The charity said that in 2024-25 prices are expected to be 25 per cent higher than they were in 2020 and earnings 27 per cent higher, so any increase to benefits less than eight per cent would be a real-terms cut to income for struggling families.Chief executive of the charity, Alison Garnham said that a below-inflation increase to benefits is “unthinkable”.She continued: “It would simply be unmanageable for millions of struggling families - many of them working - who would have less to live on compared to five years ago.

For the Government to consider using the income of these families to balance their books at a time when child poverty is rising is outrageous.“Ministers must allay concerns now by committing to uprating benefits by at least this September’s inflation rate.”One parent told the charity: “If benefits do not increase in line with inflation, it would mean we will become homeless.