Plea over child poverty

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Save the Children is demanding a £4 billion cash injection from Chancellor Alistair Darling when he makes two key spending statements to the Commons this week.

Its warning came as a think-tank produced evidence that the numbers of children in working households in poverty had risen since Labour came to power in 1997.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) called for reforms to the tax credit system to encourage both parents to work and for advice to help people out of poorly-paid jobs.

Mr Darling will deliver the Pre-Budget Report (PBR) and Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) to the Commons on Tuesday and is under pressure to announce new measures.

Save the Children said at least £1 billion should be announced in Tuesday's Pre-Budget Report, with another £3 billion pumped in by March 2009 to give "any hope" of meeting the 2010 target.

At the present rate of progress, it would take until 2024 to halve child poverty, Save the Children said.

It wants the extra help offered to include seasonal grants to help families deal with extremes of weather, warning some parents were forced to choose between heating and food.

Child poverty adviser Jason Strelitz said: "The Government has done much to tackle child poverty in the UK. We applaud this. But the harsh reality is that in the past year levels of child poverty in the UK have actually worsened.

"The incomes of the poorest 10% have fallen by 2.2% in the past year. Parents are being forced to make impossible decisions between such basic provisions as providing an adequate meal or putting on the heating.