The Government needs to find £36bn to combat poverty effectively, according to the cross-party Poverty Strategy Commission.
One in three children and 7% of the population live in poverty, a new report from the commission has found.
Entitled A new framework for tackling poverty, the report revealed that in 2000-01, pensioners faced a poverty rate of 18%. By 2014-15, this had fallen to 9%, but had risen again to 12% in 2019-20.
Poverty rates for lone parents fell by 14% between 2000-01 (61%) and 2013-14 (47%). However, the rate had risen to 52% by 2019-20.
Overall, six million more people were in deep poverty in 2019-20, i.e. more than 50% below the poverty line, than in 2000-01.
The ‘missing’ £36bn is equal to an increase in resources of £6,000 a year for each of the six million families living in poverty.
Baroness Stroud, chair of the Poverty Strategy Commission, said: ‘The Commission’s rallying cry is this: together we can tackle poverty. The status quo is unacceptable but not inevitable, as the work of the Commission shows.
‘We can make a once-in-a-lifetime impact on poverty in the UK if all key actors play their part. Today’s report is the first step in setting out a plan for how this can become a reality.’
