The TUC has slammed the record numbers of people living in poverty as ‘a record of the failures of the Conservative government’
The Trades Union Congress has said that the latest poverty statistics show the ‘vital benefits’ that ending the two-child limit will have on poverty rates.
The latest government figures, which are for the 12 months to March 2025, only cover the first eight months of the Labour administration.
As a result, they do not yet include the impacts of policies such as the minimum wage increase to £12.71 from April 2026, and the removal of the two-child limit from next month.
The Make Work Pay measures that are part of the Employment Rights Act will be implemented over the next two years.
Commenting on the data, the TUC criticised the Tories for the record rates of poverty.
The trade union body stated that this data “stands as a record of the failures of Conservative government in the years from 2010 to 2024, during which child poverty in working households increased substantially”.
General secretary of the TUC, Paul Nowak, said: “The Labour government has already taken important actions to reduce poverty, but it will take some time yet for the impacts to be seen in the data.”
For example, the effect of policy changes, such as ending the two-child limit, will not be visible until the 2026/27 poverty figures are published in spring 2028.
The latest poverty figures, published by the Department for Work and Pensions today, reveal that an estimated 13.4 million people in the UK are in absolute poverty.
This figure is up from the estimated 12.93 million people living in absolute poverty in 2023/24.
There were an estimated 4.03 million children in relative low income after housing costs in 2024/25, compared with an estimated 4.04 million the previous year.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “Everyone who works for a living should earn a decent living. But during the years of the Tory government, poverty rates for working households soared.”
He added: “With Trump’s illegal war on Iran threatening a surge in energy costs, it’s right that ministers are planning now for how to help households. Low-income families will need the greatest protection.
“The longer the war goes on, the more likely it is that Trumpflation will push up prices across the economy, and that more support will be needed.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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