, Director of Insight and
Policy at the Foundation
said:
“With families facing the worst
parliament on record for living standards, the Chancellor needed
to act on the cost of living at this Budget. The true test of
this Budget, and ultimately this Government, will be whether
families who have been overlooked in recent years start to feel
genuinely better off. This Budget starts to give families some
relief, but it still leaves them with a mountain to
climb.
“The Chancellor made a number of bold and important
interventions: lowering energy bills, holding down transport
costs and increasing the minimum wage will help families with
life's day to day costs. Scrapping the
two-child limit in Universal Credit is a crucial and effective
step towards meeting the Government's manifesto commitment to
reduce child poverty and give more children the best start in
life. Delivering the biggest fall in child poverty over the
course of a parliament wouldn't be possible without
it.
“But there is more to do. Housing
costs and bills are still too high, our safety nets are too
frail, and the cost to workers of caring for their loved ones is
too great. Pushing harder in all these areas is now critical. It
will mean going further to close inequalities in our tax system
that cost revenue and make it unfair. The Government's and
families' prospects depend on the Chancellor's ability to deliver
the change that's urgently needed."
Notes to
Editors
-
[1] Separate JRF research ahead of
the Budget showed that the nation is on course for a decade of
decline in families' disposable incomes by the end of the
parliament (September
2029). The analysis will be updated this afternoon to reflect
changes made in the Budget.
-
[2] At the Foundation, we work to
speed up and support the transition to a future free from
poverty, in which people and planet can
flourish.
