Hasbara Buster
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2010
- Messages
- 4,612
- Reaction score
- -7
Almost 5mn UK kids to face poverty by 2020: Study
Almost five million British children could face a lifetime of poverty by 2020 due to the government’s changes to the country’s welfare system, a new study shows.
According to the research, which was commissioned by the Save the Children charity and whose results were released on Wednesday, the number of children living in poverty in the UK will increase by 41 percent or 1.4 million from the current 3.5 million by the end of the decade.
This is while the British government has set 2020 as a deadline to end child poverty.
Save the Children Chief Executive Justin Forsyth said, “We’re increasingly worried that unless there is a dramatic change of course, we’re at risk of writing off the future of millions of British children.”
The charity warned that the incomes of the poorest British families have plunged by up to nine percent as an impact of the welfare cuts.
It also noted that soaring food prices have forced many families, including 28 percent of households in London, to skip meals in order to make ends meet.
The study further estimated that without a “dramatic change” the UK risks ranking among the “most unfair [countries] in the developed world.”
The UK’s coalition government adopted austerity measures in order to tackle the country’s mounting debt and sluggish growth, but the policies have sparked public protests in recent years. Critics say the measures have resulted in a mismatch between stagnating wages and surging living costs.
PressTV - Almost 5mn UK kids to face poverty by 2020: Study
Almost five million British children could face a lifetime of poverty by 2020 due to the government’s changes to the country’s welfare system, a new study shows.
According to the research, which was commissioned by the Save the Children charity and whose results were released on Wednesday, the number of children living in poverty in the UK will increase by 41 percent or 1.4 million from the current 3.5 million by the end of the decade.
This is while the British government has set 2020 as a deadline to end child poverty.
Save the Children Chief Executive Justin Forsyth said, “We’re increasingly worried that unless there is a dramatic change of course, we’re at risk of writing off the future of millions of British children.”
The charity warned that the incomes of the poorest British families have plunged by up to nine percent as an impact of the welfare cuts.
It also noted that soaring food prices have forced many families, including 28 percent of households in London, to skip meals in order to make ends meet.
The study further estimated that without a “dramatic change” the UK risks ranking among the “most unfair [countries] in the developed world.”
The UK’s coalition government adopted austerity measures in order to tackle the country’s mounting debt and sluggish growth, but the policies have sparked public protests in recent years. Critics say the measures have resulted in a mismatch between stagnating wages and surging living costs.
PressTV - Almost 5mn UK kids to face poverty by 2020: Study
