Stop pushing working families into poverty with benefit freeze, says TUC

The TUC is today (Friday) backing a call by anti-poverty organisation the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) for the government to use next week’s Spring Statement to announce an end to the freeze on benefits and tax credits.

New analysis published by the foundation finds that 200,000 people have already been pushed into poverty by the first three years of the freeze, around half of them children. The main gains from ending the freeze would go to 3.2 million children living in low-income working families.

TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“The benefit freeze has tightened family finances, pushing up poverty in working households. And it’s holding back working parents who want to give their children a decent life.

“It’s time to stop turning the screw. The government must scrap the benefits freeze and create a social security system that works for everyone when they need it.”