Julia Unwin, Chief Executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said:
"Research we published earlier this year showed that, without new policies, the government would miss its target of halving child poverty by 2010 – with child poverty falling to 2.3 million, 600 000 short of the target. Today’s Budget does not appear to have greatly changed this situation.
"Today’s announcement of a rise of £20 per year in the child element of the child tax credit will add approximately 38p per week to families' incomes. Our research shows that a rise of £12.50 per week would be needed to meet the target of halving child poverty by 2010. The final opportunity for the government to make further progress towards the 2010 target will be in the Pre-Budget Report this autumn.
"There also appears to have been little progress on the longer term changes that are necessary: improving childcare, parents’ skills and the availability of good quality, part time and flexible jobs.
"Significant new resources have been announced for the Department for Work and Pensions to tackle rising unemployment. We hope this will help to prevent more people being caught in long term unemployment and give more support to young people who have been unemployment for 12 months. This is probably necessary in order to prevent the situation deteriorating further, but is unlikely to deliver reductions in child poverty."
"Whilst we recognise that we are in very challenging economic times, it is important to remember that choosing not to act to reduce child poverty is also expensive. Our research suggests that high levels of child poverty are costing the UK at least £25 billion per year."
