Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact on levels of child poverty of increasing Universal Credit in line with average earnings instead of inflation.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has an annual statutory duty to review benefits and State Pensions rates. That review has commenced following the publication of the relevant indices by the Office for National Statistics. These are CPI in year to September 2022 published on 19 October, and earnings growth in the year May-July 2022 published on 11 October. The Secretary of State’s decisions will be announced to Parliament shortly.

Statistics covering up until financial year ending 2021 on the number of children who are in low-income can be found in the annual publication: Children in low-income families: local area statistics.

Children in low income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The Government is committed to reducing child poverty and supporting low-income families. In 2022/23 we will spend over £242 billion through the welfare system in Great Britain including £108 billion on people of working age.

This is on top of the support we have already provided by increasing the National Living Wage to £9.50 per hour and giving nearly 1.7 million families an extra £1,000 a year, on average, through our changes to the Universal Credit taper and work allowances.

To further support parents to move into and progress in work, the government provides a range of childcare offers. For more information on what childcare support may be available, we encourage parents to us the helpful Childcare Choices website.