NINE in 10 low-income families are suffering extra hardship due to Covid-19, according to research by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG).

Almost 90 per cent of such families with children are worse off due to the pandemic, a rise of 10 per cent since the summer.

Causes include the loss of jobs, rising living costs and extra caring responsibilities, the charity’s research shows.

Families are also struggling to afford essentials such as food, water, heating, rent and providing for their children, the study found.

Fifty per cent of the families surveyed said that they had fallen deeper into debt and more than half of families on low incomes have suffered physical or mental health problems. 

The growth of poverty in Tory-run Britain is detailed in the CPAG’s Poverty in the Pandemic report.

It found that problems have been worsened by the government’s attacks on welfare, including the five-week wait for the first payment of universal credit, inadequate benefit levels and benefit caps, under which families can claim for no more than two children. 

The report says that the “two-child limit” has “severely limited family incomes during the pandemic.” 

The CPAG and the Church of England, which also worked on the report, are calling for more help for low-income people with children.

They are demanding that the £20 per week increase in universal credit and tax credits be made permanent, higher children’s benefits, expanded eligibility for free school meals and and an end to the two-child limit and benefit cap. 

CPAG chief executive Alison Garnham said: “Far from seeing signs of recovery, we are witnessing a rapid deterioration in family finances and gloomy future prospects, with long-term unemployment likely to hit many more across the UK in the coming months. 

“We urgently need to lift the threat of a reduction in universal credit and tax credits in April 2021 and to protect families and children from further hardship by increasing investment in children’s benefits and abolishing the cruel two-child limit and benefit cap policies.” 

Bishop of Durham Paul Butler said: “Urgent action is needed to prevent a sharp rise in poverty and destitution over the challenging months ahead, starting with a commitment to retain the £20 per week uplift to universal credit and extend it to other legacy benefits.”