The Double Lockout: how low income families will be locked out of fair living standards
Report published today by Child Poverty Action Group, with contributions from a range of experts, looking at the government?s welfare benefit uprating legislation. CPAG contends that this legislation is a poverty-producing bill that will further exclude the poorest workers, jobseekers, carers and disabled people from the mainstream of society. Key findings: ú The bill is poverty-producing and means that both absolute and relative child poverty will increase ú Contrary to arguments made by Ministers, welfare spending on workless families has been falling and most Jobseekers Allowance claimants find new jobs within months ú The bill puts the economy at risk by failing to protect the economy?s ?automatic stabilisers? ú Contrary to popular perception, benefit fraud is at its lowest ever recorded level and the ?scrounger? stereotype is grossly inaccurate ú The government must focus on the root causes of social security and tax credit demand and prioritise progress on full employment, living wages, affordable housing and affordable childcare
