Overview
- Marking Child Poverty Action Group’s 60th anniversary in London, Brown called child poverty a “shameful epidemic” and the biggest threat to the UK’s long‑term economic future.
- Brown is pressing the chancellor to raise gambling levies, highlighting IPPR analysis that reforms could raise about £3.2bn to scrap the two‑child limit and benefit cap and lift around 500,000 children out of poverty.
- Polling for 38 Degrees by Survation indicates 64% of voters support higher taxes on gambling companies if the proceeds are used to reduce child poverty.
- Official figures show 4.45 million children were in relative low income after housing costs in the year to March 2024, the highest since comparable UK records began.
- The government says a child poverty strategy will set out how it will tackle root causes and points to funding already announced, including £500m for Best Start Family Hubs, extended free school meals and a new £1bn crisis support package.