Failure to act in Pre Budget Report means Government will miss 2010 child poverty target

Single parent charity Gingerbread today condemned the Government’s failure to go further towards meeting its target to end child poverty by 2010.

Chief Executive of Gingerbread Fiona Weir said:

“The Chancellor promised to halve the deficit, but the pledge to halve child poverty by 2010 will be broken. This was the last opportunity for the Government to invest more in support for children to  bring its 2010 target within reach.  Insufficient action in this pre budget report means the target will be missed and with it the chance to remove the blight of poverty from thousands of childrens' lives.   The Child Poverty Bill will put the target to end child poverty by 2020 on a surer footing, but there is now an even steeper hill to climb to turn the commitment into reality.

“The announcement to extend Free School Meals to 500,000 more families will help many low income single parents but the poorest families needed the Chancellor to go further.”