Universal Credit: Child poverty could increase after money top-up ends, Rashford says

Manchester United's Marcus Rashford has said he is worried that child poverty could rise after a special scheme to help some families with money during the pandemic, came to an end on Tuesday.

He made the comments while accepting an honorary doctorate from Manchester University for his work to tackle child poverty.

The government had introduced the £20 top-up to universal credit to help in the pandemic's toughest times but said that the rise in the benefit was only ever designed to be a "temporary measure".

Universal credit is a payment given by the government if people are on a low income or don't have a job.

Rashford said that he was concerned that ending this extra money for families as we come out of pandemic "could see child poverty rise to one-in-three children."

This isn't the first time that Rashford has spoken out about doing more to tackle child hunger.

In June 2020, Rashford called on the government to reverse a decision not to provide free school meal vouchers.

His campaign was a success and the England international was later made an MBE for services to vulnerable children.

The government also agree to provide free school meals to children in England during the Christmas holidays, after Rashford campaigned for this.

In September this year it was announced that some secondary school pupils would even study the impact of his campaigning.

Rashford said receiving his honorary doctorate was "bittersweet", as it came as "millions of families across the UK lost a lifeline and a means of staying afloat".

Speaking to BBC Breakfast he said: "You've got to decide between - are you going to eat or are you going to be warm in the house? These are decisions that you don't want people to go through, never mind children."

"It's time that representatives got out into communities like mine (and) saw first-hand the true measure of struggle. Covid-19 can no longer be used as an excuse," he added.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the universal credit top-up was always a "temporary measure, designed to help claimants through the toughest stages of the pandemic".

"But we are now seeing our economy starting to bounce back so our focus is rightly on helping people back into high-quality, well-paid jobs," they added.