Child Poverty Action Group demands more radical action by Gordon Brown on child poverty

Gordon Brown needs to outline a more radical approach to tackling child poverty in tomorrow’s Budget, campaigners said today.

The Child Poverty Action Group said it was disappointed that the government had missed its target to reduce child poverty by a quarter by 2004-5 and that more of the same would not be enough to reach its goal of eliminating the problem by 2020.

It called on the chancellor to adopt measures including increasing adult levels of income support and bringing the rate of child benefit for second and subsequent children in line with that paid to the first child to protect families against poverty.

Meanwhile, older people’s charity Help The Aged has demanded that Brown re-instate a £200 rebate for pensioners for council tax bills to help deal with increasing rates.