Charity calls for fair treatment of families in debt

Charity Citizens Advice has called on the government to treat families experiencing debt problems fairly.

In a new report entitled "This is child poverty", the organisation outlines a series of measures that it believes need to be taken if the government is to meet its target of ending child poverty by 2020.

As well as emphasising the fair treatment of families in debt, Citizens Advice calls for improvements to the benefits and tax credit systems, steps to bring rising costs of essential services such as gas and electricity under control and better financial incentives for families who move from benefits to work.

"The government has made some progress in lifting children in Britain out of poverty yet one in three children in the UK now live in poverty and the figures are rising again," stated Citizens Advice chief executive David Harker.

Recently, fellow UK charity Age Concern suggested that in order to help pensioners who are struggling with their personal finances, the government should introduce a new system of automatic payments for the Pension Credit benefit scheme.