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TUC: Government failing on child poverty pledge

The government did not include enough provisions for children living in poverty in this year's Budget, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said yesterday.

Earlier this week, chancellor Alistair Darling announced a raft of measures to tackle the problem, including an increase to child poverty and extra child tax credits.

Prior to the Budget, the TUC along with other members of the End Child Poverty coalition, campaigned for a total of £3.4 billion to be earmarked for child poverty provisions.

This figure was based on an estimate from the Institute of Fiscal Studies, who said that it was the amount needed to give a 50 per cent chance of halving child poverty levels by 2011 - a benchmark target that has already been set by the government.

"The measures announced by the Chancellor today are welcome, but they fall far short [of the target]," TUC general secretary Brendan Barber commented.

According to the organisation, the government will miss its child poverty target by 700,000 children.

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