FAMILIES must be given an urgent cash boost during the coronavirus pandemic to lift up to 700,000 children out of poverty, the TUC warned today.

Doubling child-benefit payments or raising universal credit (UC) and tax credits for parents with children would make a “life-changing difference” to the poorest households, according to a report by the progressive Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank and the trade union federation.

The government must also invest in childcare as part of a family stimulus package that would help boost the economy through higher household spending as parents continue working, they urged.