This assessment, announced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) on Tuesday 11 October as part of its ‘Child and working age poverty from 2010-2020’ briefing, was just one of the somewhat gloomy forecasts made by the IFS, who carry out research looking at the potential impact of government fiscal and economic policy on the UK population.

Other findings to come out from the briefing included the conclusion that by 2015 more children and working age parents are set to find themselves in poverty in comparison to 2009 figures, both in relative and absolute terms. Indeed, by 2015, when the Government’s planned Universal Credit changes would have come into effect, around 3 million children will find themselves in poverty.

However, despite these rather bleak predictions, the Coalition Government remains committed to reaching its target of ending child poverty by 2020.

An electronic version of the IFS report ‘Child and working age poverty from 2010-2020’ is available here.