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The government is unlikely to meet its first target for reducing child poverty unless tax credits for children are increased from next April, according to the Child Poverty Action Group, writes Clare Jerrom.

The charity is launching a campaign called 'Make it a fiver Gordon!' to call on Chancellor Gordon Brown to give an extra £5 a week for each child living in low-income families from next April.

Martin Barnes, director of the CPAG, said: “The Chancellor said in this year's Budget that he wanted to make faster progress in tackling child poverty, but without a significant increase in the child tax credit the first milestone target for reducing child poverty will almost certainly be missed.”

The prime minister pledged in 1999 to eradicate child poverty within 20 years, and the government’s first target is to reduce the number of children living in poverty by a quarter by the end of 2004-5.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies forecasts that an increase of between £3 and £5 a week in the new child tax credit may be needed to ensure the target is met.

The rate of the child tax credit from April next year should be announced in the Chancellor’s pre-Budget statement in the autumn.

The Department for Work and Pensions has been consulting on new long-term headline measures of child poverty, and the conclusions are expected to be published later this year.