The UN’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights says Keir Starmer’s government should now launch an independent assessment of austerity measures since 2010
A UN report has called on Keir Starmer’s government to reverse the two-child benefit limit and a raft of Tory-era austerity measures.
A wide-ranging report – published today – also raises alarm over the minimum wage, progress in tackling the climate crisis and the overseas aid budget.
The UN’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights says ministers should now launch independent assessment of the impact of austerity measures introduced since 2010.
It raises concerns that reforms have led to “severe economic hardship, increased reliance on food banks, homelessness… and stigmatisation of benefit claimants”.
In recommendations, the report says the government should “conduct an independent assessment of the cumulative impact of austerity measures introduced since 2010”.
And it also says the goverment should now take “corrective measures”, including “reversing policies such as the two-child limit, the benefit cap and the five-week delay for the first Universal Credit payment”.
The two-child benefit limit – one of the most severe cuts to the welfare state by austerity Chancellor George Osborne – has been blamed for trapping hundreds of thousands of kids in poverty. Mr Starmer has so far refused to scrap the measure but has launched a child poverty taskforce, which is expected to report back in the spring.
But as the government prepares to make cuts to the benefits bill, the report today also recommends the government: “Increase its budget allocation for social security and ensure that social benefits, including unemployment benefits and the daily allowance for asylum-seekers, are regularly indexed to the cost of living, through an independent and transparent mechanism, in order to provide recipients with an adequate standard of living.”
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