Chancellor Alistair Darling yesterday announced short-term measures to support families in poverty including bringing forward increases in child benefit planned for April next year to January. He is also bringing forward a £25 increase in the child element of the child tax credit.
Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, said: "The extra money comes from paying existing commitments sooner than expected, so the pre-budget report takes us no closer to the 2010 target to halve child poverty than we had expected before today."
Anne Crowley, poverty spokesperson for Save the Children in Wales, said: 'Bringing forward increases in child tax credits and child benefits are welcome steps, but will not be enough for the Government to meet its goal of halving child poverty by 2010."
She added: "We will need to see a significant investment in the poorest families in next year's Budget, to ensure that the Government keeps its promise of halving child poverty by 2010 and ending it by 2020.'
Hilary Fisher, director of End Child Poverty, called the report "a missed opportunity".
Darling yesterday reiterated the government's commitment to introducing a child poverty bill to enshrine in law the commitment to eradicating child poverty by 2020.
