SCRAPPING  a rise in Universal Credit is ‘handing” the SNP government the argument that Westminster is hampering its efforts to eradicate child poverty, according to an equality expert.

Campaigners and prominent Tory MPs including Iain Duncan Smith, are urging the UK government to abandon plans to end the £20-a-week uplift that was introduced last year to support six million claimants during the pandemic.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation say the move will leave out-of-work families with children receiving “barely half of the income” the public believes is required to achieve a minimum standard of living.

According to a report by Loughborough University, working families on low incomes would also see this support fall sharply.

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The charity argues that even for those with a full-time job on the National Living Wage, a single parent with two children aged 3 and 7 will be £66-a-week short of the Minimum Income Standard (MIS) of £482 per week.

It said working parents had been able to get closer to MIS in recent years due to increases in the National Living Wage and the £20-a-week increase to Universal Credit,

In Scotland, families are also beginning to benefit from the £20 Scottish Child Payment, with low-income parents of children under 6 already in receipt of this payment.  The Scottish Government pledged during the election to double it to £20-a-week per child but with no clear timeline for implementation.  

The payment has been seen as pivotal in helping the Scottish Government achieve a target that by 2023/24 fewer than 18% of children should be in relative poverty.

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Professor Stephen Sinclair, co-director of the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit at Glasgow Caledonian University, said: “It was anticipated it was going to have a 3% cut on child poverty and it’s just going to plateau.

“The Scottish Government will be able to say that it [the drop in Universal Credit] is one of the reasons why they won’t be able to meet their targets for child poverty in 2023, so politically, it’s handing them that argument.

“Technically the UK government will say this is not a cut, but it’s going to be experienced as a cut.

“It’s an interesting choice taken by the UK government considering the level of discussion and opposition within their own party.”

However he said, there were other options open to the Scottish Government in helping address inequalities including a rise in income tax.

The SNP’s Depute Westminster Leader and Equalities spokesperson, Kirsten Oswald MP said: ""Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are not only threatening Scotland's recovery by imposing Tory austerity cuts on family incomes, but their actions will actively undermine anti-poverty measures implemented by the Scottish Government.

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"I am urging them to U-turn on these plans, make the Universal Credit uplift permanent and extend it to legacy benefits."

A UK Government spokesman said: “The temporary Universal Credit uplift was brought in to support those with the lowest incomes during the pandemic. 

“Now that restrictions are ending it is right that the Government should focus its support – through our multi-billion-pound Plan for Jobs – to help people learn new skills to progress in their career, increase their hours or find new work.”

The SNP’s Depute Westminster Leader and Equalities spokesperson, Kirsten Oswald MP said: "