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Child Poverty Action Group Profile picture
Child Poverty Action Group
@CPAGUK
Child Poverty Action Group is the leading charity campaigning for an end to child poverty in the UK and for a better deal for low-income families.
Oct 4, 2020 • 17 tweets • 7 min read
The #BenefitCap was first announced #OnThisDay in 2010 by George Osborne at the Conservative party conf. It came in in 2013. It breaks the vital link between the support you need & the support you get from our social security system & pushes kids into poverty [thread] 1/17 Originally the #BenefitCap was based on the premise that non-working households shouldn’t receive more than the average earnings of working households. But this compares incomes with earnings. A working family on £26k could also receive a range of benefits and tax credits. 2/17
Sep 22, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Did you know you can order the Sweet and Maxwell Social Security Legislation volumes from CPAG?

They are a guide to the UK social security system & interpret the legislation for the purpose of appeals against decisions about benefit claims.

Order today bit.ly/35XoFyJ Volume one covers non-means-tested benefits except for contribution-based jobseeker’s allowance, which is in Volume II. Shop now: bit.ly/2HdzJ0n Image
Aug 25, 2020 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Some stories from our latest report, out today, with @churchofengland. Some may sound familiar:

“I lost my job beginning of March and been unable to find a new job as my son’s nursery closed... I am in more debt and struggling to pay bills and feed my son and myself.” A Dad, Graham, described not being able to cheer his daughter up by giving her money:

“I’ll break down and cry some days, I’ll go to my bedroom and cry, because I can’t give her £20 to go and buy something.”
Aug 23, 2020 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
We've been monitoring the social security system during #COVID19 through our Early Warning System - here are some of the issues we're seeing again and again 1/11 1. Universal credit – the main benefit available to low-income families – is not available to everyone, even though working is now much more difficult for many. 2/11
Jul 29, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
#NationalFoodStrategy We welcome the call for an extension of entitlement to free school meals. Our CEO @alisongcpag: “Extending free school meals to kids whose parents receive universal credit would be a good step forward in protecting most disadvantaged... 1/n "...but the evidence shows that free school meals for all kids would achieve so much more. When lunch is free for all, children’s school results are boosted, their diet improves and parents struggling to make ends meet have more to spend on nutritious breakfasts & dinners... 2/n
Jul 20, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Benefit-capped working mother wins test case against DWP's irrational universal credit rules for assessing earnings - Out statement on today's judgment: cpag.org.uk/news-blogs/new… "Our client is a working single mother who has done everything she can to support her children but has been trapped by the absurd rigidity of universal credit rules which have penalised her for being paid 4-weekly rather than monthly –a circumstance that was beyond her control...
Jul 8, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Our response to the #SummerStatement: "The Chancellor’s focus on protecting jobs and supporting people into work is welcome and desperately needed in response to higher unemployment. Extra money for the flexible support fund is great news especially if it can be used... "...more flexibly for up-front childcare costs, quality training and additional costs needed for job search, work clothing and fares. The existence of this support through the flexible support fund needs to be better publicised so claimants know there is help they can ask for...
Jun 29, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
We are constantly working to keep you up-to-date on our online platform #AskCPAG. Here's a little bit about our latest tools: A notoriously tricky and complicated area, our new 'Right to Reside' tool helps to identify rights to reside and claim specific benefits for EEA- and non-EEA nationals. This tool links to the relevant sections in our online Welfare Benefits and Tax Credits Handbook.
Jun 23, 2020 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
40% of low-income families who responded to our #CostoftheSchoolDay survey were missing at least one essential resource for learning.

Learn more in our report, the Cost of Learning in Lockdown: cpag.org.uk/policy-and-cam… Image One third of people most worried about money told us they had to buy a laptop, tablet or other device during lockdown. Image
Jun 18, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Today we’re publishing our new report, The Cost of Learning in Lockdown, which captures family experiences of school closures across the UK: cpag.org.uk/policy-and-cam… Through this research, we wanted to learn more about the impact of school closures on family life – we asked what was going well and what was missing. Here are a few quotes that show what the experience can be like for families in the UK.
Jun 15, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Our latest Mind the Gaps briefing shines a light on the problems ill and disabled people are facing because they haven’t had a work capability assessment. Here are just three snapshots of how people’s lives have been affected in this way: 1/4 A man receiving chemotherapy treatment for cancer should have automatically got the limited capability for work-related activity element (which means additional money) in #UniversalCredit. But this has not happened, leaving him in financial hardship. 2/4
May 12, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Why are the incomes of families with kids so disproportionately affected by #COVID19?

1. There was nothing family-focused in the COVID policy response - there was nothing specifically for children. 2. 62% of parents reported having their work affected by COVID, compared to only 35% of non-parents. This could be due to parents working in different sectors, working patterns of 2nd earners balancing work with childcare, or some now unable to work because schools are closed.
May 12, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Statement on Court of Appeal judgment from our head of strategic litigation Carla Clarke: "Today's judgment corrects a glaring injustice for the two households in this case, and many others in a similar situation, who end up worse off through no fault of their own... 1/4 "...The court was clear that the way in which UC is implemented must comply with human rights. Claimants pushed onto UC when the DWP wrongly stops their old benefits should not have to tolerate an income drop that causes them real hardship... 2/4
May 10, 2020 • 8 tweets • 7 min read
In the year when child poverty was to have been ended, we’ve published an important new book on what we can learn from previous efforts to reduce child poverty and what we now need to do to end child poverty for good. cpag.org.uk/shop/cpag-titl… 1/8 Image Called 2020 Vision: Ending child poverty for good, the book is a collection of incisive essays from: @alisongcpag and Tom Lee on progress in tackling child poverty and where we’ve gone backwards; @ProfJBradshaw on how child poverty compares in different European countries; 2/8
Apr 3, 2020 • 8 tweets • 9 min read
In the year when child poverty was set to have been ended, we’ve published an important new book on what we can learn from previous efforts to reduce #childpoverty and what we now need to do to end it for good. cpag.org.uk/shop/cpag-titl… Image Called “2020 Vision: Ending child poverty for good”, the book is a collection of incisive contributions from: @alisongcpag & Tom Lee on progress in tackling child poverty and where we’ve gone backwards; @ProfJBradshaw on how child poverty compares in different European countries;
Mar 26, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
A brief thread to summarise:
- 72% of poor children live in working families in 2018-19, up from 70% in 2017-18, and 15% of poor children have a self-employed parent, that’s a record high.
(1/n) - Number of children in poverty rises 100,000 to 4.2 million after housing costs (AHC), up from 3.6 million in 2010. That’s 30% of UK children below the poverty line.
- 600,000 more children in relative poverty (after housing costs) since 2010.
(2/n)
Mar 25, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
We've just published our updated #COVID19 briefing - we welcome efforts so far to support those affected, but more needs to be done for families with children (1/4) cpag.org.uk/policy-and-cam… We're calling for emergency support for families with children, with a £10 increase in child benefit as the top priority plus the removal of the benefit cap and the two-child limit (2/4)
Mar 20, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Our response to the Chancellor's announcement today from our CEO @alisongcpag: ​"We welcome unprecedented new support through the job retention scheme to help save people's jobs... More support with housing costs will also provide reassurance for families worried about keeping a roof over their heads. And the increase to the standard allowance in universal credit and basic element of the working tax credit will help to the tune of nearly £20 per week...
Mar 20, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
With schools closing today, a short thread on #FreeSchoolMeals. We welcome the Govt’s acknowledgement that the extended school closures are a significant departure from the usual position in school holidays, where no formal provision is made for kids getting free school meals 1/n This is an unprecedented situation and decisions need to be made quickly to give families as much certainty as possible as new systems are put in place. 2/n
Mar 17, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
We have just published a briefing on what the government needs to do to support families during the #COVID19 pandemic. We are calling for:

universal credit advances to be made non-repayable;

emergency support for children in the form of a £10 increase in child benefit;

1/4 provision in universal credit for work-search requirements and work preparation activities to be automatically suspended if schools close or children have to stay home from school or nursery;

2/4 #covid19UK
Mar 11, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
On #coronavirus, we are calling for further support for people claiming universal credit and other benefits who must self-isolate to reduce the risk of spreading Corona virus... Jobcentre staff need clear guidance enabling them to lift work-search and other requirements on claimants who must self-isolate, in addition to the Budget announcement to lift the requirement to physically attend benefit offices...