The Government is committed to reducing child poverty and supporting low-income families. As you may know, the latest statistics show that children in households where all adults were in work were around six times less likely to be in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than children in a household where nobody works. I welcome that, compared with 2010, there are nearly one million fewer workless households, and almost 540,000 fewer children living in workless households in the UK.
The Spring Budget set out a significant, wide-ranging package of measures that represent an investment of £3.5 billion over five years to boost workforce participation. Crucially, this included increasing the Administrative Earnings Threshold from 15 to 18 hours, meaning that those working less than half of a full-time week will receive full jobcentre support as they look for more work.
Alongside this, the Spring Budget also increased the UC childcare cap to £951 for one child (up from £646) and £1,630 for two children (up from £1,108), and stipulated that this support would be paid to parents up-front when they are moving into work or increasing their hours, rather than in arrears - removing a barrier that many face when thinking about returning to work. Alongside this, the Chancellor also announced that working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare per week, for 38 weeks of the year, from when their child is 9 months old to when they start school. This will be rolled out in stages from April 2024.
In the meantime, for those who require extra support, the Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund, bringing the total funding to £2.5 billion. This extension allows local authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need. I welcome that almost £800 million was paid to households with children between October 2021 and March 2023.