Parents are spending child benefit on bills as finances tighten during pandemic, says charity

Ministers urged to increase child benefit rates amid warnings more children will ‘slip into poverty’ as coronavirus recession takes hold

Campaigners are calling for a £10 weekly increase in child benefit (Getty)

Parents are being forced to spend child benefit on bills during the pandemic, prompting urgent calls for the payment to be increased.

Fourteen per cent of parents in a poll said they were spending the benefit on bills, up from 4 per cent in 2012.

And 28 per cent of the 1,000 parents in the survey said they use the money for day-to-day living expenses – up from just 2 per cent in 2012.

The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), which carried out the poll, is calling for a £10 weekly increase in child benefit to ensure that parents can protect their children from hardship, warning that the pandemic has made finances “even tighter” for families.

Many mothers and fathers have faced income drops just as their costs climbed when children had to stay home due to school closures.

Ministers temporarily extended the free school meals scheme to support low-income families during the pandemic, but the charity said there had been no other targeted extra support for children in the government’s economic response.

It warned that the coming week would be particularly challenging with children returning to school, as many parents would have been asked to supply masks, learning equipment and packed lunches, and almost all would have to buy new shoes and uniforms.

The survey comes after a separate piece of research published by CPAG showed the coronavirus pandemic has left 80 per cent of low-income families in a worse financial position than before the crisis, leaving parents “living under a cloud of anxiety in lockdown”. It warned of greater hardships to come if the government failed to take immediate action.

Figures published by the Trussell Trust in May showed the number of children relying on food banks had more than doubled during the pandemic, up 122 per cent during the last two weeks of March compared with the same period in 2019.

Child benefit has lost 23 per cent of its value since 2010 because of freezes and sub-inflationary uprating, according to CPAG. Parents earning under £60,000 are eligible for the benefit but it is reduced by 1 per cent for each £100 earned over £50,000.

Last year, it is estimated that 18 per cent of families – amounting to 1.4 million households – lost at least some child benefit due to the charge, with 1 million of these having lost all of their entitlement, according to the charity.

Alison Garnham, chief executive of CPAG, warned that despite child poverty rates being set to rise as the financial impact of the pandemic takes effect, there was “nothing” in the government’s economic response that offered ongoing targeted financial support for children.

She added: “For almost 50 years, child benefit has been there for children as a minimum protection against poverty, but its value has been eroded. And as our survey shows, hard-pressed parents are increasingly having to spend it on general household essentials.

“That isn’t right. As a nation we invest in the state pension to support everyone in retirement, we should be investing just as much in child benefit to support all families with the extra costs of children. Re-investing in child benefit is the least we can do to shore up children’s life chances in these uncertain times.”

A government spokesperson said: “We are wholly committed to supporting the lowest paid families in our country and have taken significant steps to support those on low incomes throughout this pandemic.

“We have invested over £9.3bn more support through the welfare system, in addition to raising the living wage, ending the benefit freeze and increasing work incentives. We keep all policies under constant review.”