Nursery World - Government accused of refusing to acknowledge extent of UK poverty

The Government is being urged to reverse the benefits freeze and two-child limit in a new report, which suggests ministers are in denial about the proliferation of extreme poverty in the UK.

In his final report on the impact of austerity on human rights in the UK, the United Nations’ (UN) special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, highlights the extent of poverty in the UK and the causes behind it.

Mr Alston points to data that shows one fifth of the population (14 million) in the UK live in poverty and predicts that close to 40 per cent of children will be living in poverty by 2021.

He says that food banks have proliferated, homelessness and rough sleeping have increased greatly, tens of thousands of poor families are forced to live in accommodation far from their schools, jobs and community networks, life expectancy is falling for certain groups and the legal aid system has been decimated.

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