NCB is part of a broad coalition of organisations who have written to the Chancellor, calling on him to ease the unexpected financial pressures facing families because of the Coronavirus epidemic by raising child benefit by £10 per child per week.
Dear Chancellor
We welcome the steps taken so far to protect incomes in this time of great uncertainty. As well as protecting individual incomes, we are convinced there is more to do to meet the needs of the UK's families, focused on meeting children's needs, and easing some of the unexpected financial pressures families are grappling with now that most schools are closed and children are at home full-time.
We are calling for emergency support for children to ensure all parents can cover the basic costs of raising their children in the face of reduced income and before the new income protection measures can take effect. We have therefore come together to ask you to consider uplifting child benefit by £10 per child per week.
As child benefit reaches most families (12.7 million children receive it ) it offers an effective, fast and resilient way to get money to families through our existing infrastructure - families will get the help they need directly into their bank accounts to cover additional costs.
As you know, child benefit has been subject to freezes and sub-inflationary uprating since 2011, and it would take more than a £5 increase just to restore its value. An increase in child benefit of £10 per child per week, on top of the proposed uprating from 6 April, would reduce child poverty by around five percentage points and household poverty by one to two percentage points. This would be more effective in reducing child poverty than the £20 increase in universal credit and working tax credit – although this increase is of course very welcome. Importantly, the benefit cap would also need to be lifted to enable all families to benefit from this increase.
We hope you will agree that while all families are affected by the coronavirus pandemic, swift action to strengthen the finances of families and to shield children from additional hardship is critical in such exceptionally difficult times. We believe such a move would also receive widespread public support.
Yours sincerely
4in10 London's Child Poverty Network
Action for Children
Linda Tuthill, CEO, The Action Group
Javed Khan, Chief Executive, Barnardo's
Frank Mosson, Bureau Manager, Bridgeton Citizens Advice
Joseph Howes, Chief Executive Officer, Buttle UK
Dr Neil Henery, Director, Camphill Scotland
Rami Okasha, Chief Executive, Chas
Alison Garnham, Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group
Laurence Guinness, Chief Executive, The Childhood Trust
Kathy Evans, Chief Executive, Children England
The Children’s Society
Very Rev Dr Susan M Brown, Convener, Faith Impact Forum, The Church of Scotland
Derek Mitchell, CEO, Citizens Advice Scotland
City Bridge Trust
Connect Community Trust
Louise King, Director, CRAE
Jane Brumpton, Chief Executive, Early Years Scotland
Maureen Morris, Secretary, EHRA
Emma Ritch, Executive Director, Engender
Cheryl Ward, CEO, Family Fund
Cathy Ashley, Chief Executive, Family Rights Group
Jimmy Wilson, CEO, FARE Scotland
Fiona Moss, Head of Health Improvement & Inequality, Glasgow City CHP and Chair, Glasgow City Challenge Child Poverty Group
Neil MacDonald, VAW services, Glasgow City Council
Professor Ian Welsh OBE, Chief Executive, Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE)
Douglas Guest, Acting Director for Scotland, Home-Start UK Scotland
Martin Dorchester, Chief Executive, Includem
Gavin Spence, Manager, James McLean Project
Sarah-Jayne Clifton, Director, Jubilee Debt Campaign
Enver Solomon, CEO, Just for Kids Law
Bishop Nolan, President, Justice and Peace Scotland
Virginia Radcliffe, Artistic Director & CEO, Licketyspit
Dr. Nick Owen FRSA MBE, Chief Executive Officer, The Mighty Creatives
Anna Feuchtwang, Chief Executive, National Children's Bureau and Chair, End Child Poverty
Dr. Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretaries, the National Education Union
Craig Samuel, NAWRA representative Scotland
New Gorbals Housing Association
Satwat Rehman, CEO, One Parent Families Scotland
Clare Simpson, Manager, Parenting across Scotland
Marguerite Hunter Blair, Chief Executive, Play Scotland
Peter Kelly, Director, The Poverty Alliance
Shruti Jain, Chair, Saheliya
Shaben Begum, Director, Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance
Irene Audain MBE Chief Executive, Scottish Out of School Care Network
Scottish Refugee Council
Kirsty McNab, CEO, Scottish Sports Futures
Rozanne Foyer, General Secretary Designate, Scottish Trades Union Congress
Grahame Smith, General Secretary, Scottish Trades Union Congress
Scottish Women's Convention
Jack Dudgeon MSYP, Chair, Scottish Youth Parliament
Ben Farrugia, Director, Social Work Scotland
Jo Derrick, CEO, Staf
STAR Project
Phil Andrew, Chief Executive, StepChange Debt Charity
Juliet Harris, Director, Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights)
Emma Revie, Chief Executive, the Trussell Trust
Thomas Lawson, CEO, Turn2us
Adrian Sinfield, Professor Emeritus of Social Policy, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh
Jonathan Bradshaw, Emeritus Professor, University of York
The Wise Group
Lucy Hadley, Campaigns and Policy Manager, Women’s Aid Federation of England
Hugh Foy, Programme Director, Xaverians UK Province
Tim Frew, Chief Executive, YouthLink Scotland
Rachel Adamson, Co-Director, Zero Tolerance