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<p>No assessment has been made of child poverty in the North East, Yorkshire and the
Humber for 2020/21. Given the impact of the pandemic on the size and quality of sample
data, DWP statisticians concluded that for several of the breakdowns it would be difficult
to make meaningful assessments of trends and changes in 2020/21 compared with the
pre-Covid position. The Chief Statistician has therefore taken the decision not to
publish additional breakdowns for regional child poverty in 2020/21.</p><p> </p><p>The
Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income families. In
2022/23 we will spend over £242 billion through the welfare system in Great Britain
including £108 billion on people of working age.</p><p> </p><p>With 1.25 million job
vacancies across the UK, our focus is firmly on supporting parents to move into, and
progress in work, an approach which is based on clear evidence about the importance
of parental employment - particularly where it is full-time - in substantially reducing
the risks of child poverty. The latest available data on in-work poverty shows that
in 2019/20, children in households where all adults were in work were around six times
less likely to be in absolute poverty (before housing costs) than children in a household
where nobody works.</p><p> </p><p>In 2021, compared to 2010, there were nearly 1 million
fewer workless households and almost 590,000 fewer children in workless households
in the UK. In 2020/21, there were 200,000 fewer children in absolute poverty (before
housing costs) than in 2009/10.</p><p> </p><p>To help people into work, including
parents, our Plan for Jobs is providing broad ranging support for all Jobseekers with
our Sector Based Work Academy Programmes (SWAP), Job Entry Targeted Support and Restart
scheme. We are also extending the support Jobcentres provide to people in work and
on low incomes. Through a staged roll-out, which started in April 2022, around 2.1
million low-paid benefit claimants will be eligible for support to progress into higher-paid
work.</p><p> </p><p>Around 1.9 million of the most disadvantaged pupils are eligible
for and claiming a free school meal, saving families around £400 per year. In addition,
around 1.25 million more infants enjoy a free, healthy and nutritious meal at lunchtime
following the introduction of universal infant free school meals. The National School
Breakfast Provision programme (NSBP) is providing funding of up to £24 million in
a two-year contract to continue our support for school breakfast provision until July
2023 supporting pupils in up to 2,500 schools that meet our criteria for levels of
disadvantage.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is also investing £200 million a year to
continue the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, which benefitted over 600,000
children last summer, and we have increased the value of the Healthy Start Scheme
by a third to £4.25 a week.</p><p> </p><p>The government understands the pressures
people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to
support people with their energy bills. The government’s Energy Price Guarantee will
save a typical British household around £700 this winter, based on what energy price
would’ve been under the current price cap – reducing bills by roughly a third. This
support will be in place from 1 October 2022 until 31 March 2023. A review will be
launched to consider more targeted measures to support households with their energy
bills after this period. This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost of living support
announced earlier this year which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible
households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.</p><p> </p><p>The £37bn
also includes up to £650 in cost of living Payments (paid in 2 lump sums of £326 and
£324) which have targeted support at around 8 million low-income households on means-tested
benefits. In addition, 6 million eligible disabled people have received a one-off
disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 and pensioner households will receive a
one-off payment of £300 alongside the Winter Fuel Payment from this month.</p><p>
</p><p>In collaboration with Local Authorities we have a well-established system of
hardship payments, including the Discretionary Housing Payments, available as a safeguard
for if claimants demonstrate they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs
due to the rise in the cost of living. For those who require additional support, we
extended the Household Support Fund in England, which will be providing up to £421m
of support for those most in need for the period October 2022 - March 2023 and is
being delivered by Upper Tier and Unitary Councils. In the case of South Tyneside,
the local authority has been allocated £1,484,854.01 for this period. The devolved
administrations have been allocated £79 million through the Barnett formula as usual.</p>
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