325,000 North East children face benefits freeze
Almost 325,000 children in our region could be forced into poverty by a freeze on benefits.
The Children’s Society warn that from April a four year freeze on Child Tax Credits, Working Tax Credits and Job Seekers’ Allowance will hit 179,000 low-income families in the North East.
Almost two thirds of children affected live in working households who receive benefits top-up low pay.
It’s all part of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill, which is due to be debated in Parliament today.
See table: Estimated number of families and children in the North East facing four-year benefit freeze starting April 2016
Local area
WORKING families facing year benefit freeze
CHILDREN in WORKING families facing benefit freeze
TOTAL number of FAMILIES (working and out-of-work) facing benefit freeze
TOTAL number of CHILDREN in families (working and out-of-work) facing benefit freeze
County Durham
22,000
38,800
34,700
62,100
Darlington
5,000
8,900
7,500
13,700
Hartlepool
4,400
7,700
7,500
13,700
Middlesbrough
6,800
13,000
12,400
24,000
Northumberland
12,200
22,100
18,200
33,200
Redcar and Cleveland
6,000
10,600
9,900
17,700
Stockton-on-Tees
8,500
15,400
13,400
24,800
Gateshead
8,400
15,300
13,200
23,900
Newcastle upon Tyne
10,900
19,900
18,400
34,400
North Tyneside
8,400
14,500
12,700
22,200
South Tyneside
6,300
10,900
10,700
18,600
Sunderland
13,000
22,800
20,600
36,500
Neil Bradbury, Chief Executive of County Durham Citizens Advice, said:
“These are people who’ve been helped out by the state, but who are getting this money for a real reason and they are in real financial difficulty. They are vulnerable and perhaps not the so called scroungers of popular image.”
“Sometimes people just can make ends meet. You’ll see a rise in the use of food parcels and other schemes and people having to turn to all kinds of sources to make ends meet which is quite sad in this day and age.”
Rob Jackson, Area Director for The Children’s Society in the North East, said:
“Families on low incomes across the North East are facing a barrage of cuts. If ministers are genuinely concerned about child poverty they must reconsider plans to freeze benefits over the next four years. At the very least, the Government needs to guarantee there will be no further cuts when the Chancellor delivers his Budget next month.
“Austerity has hit families hard, including those in work. Further cuts to support would push more children into poverty and undermine incentives for families to move into work or earn more.”