By Julian Knight
BBC News Online personal finance reporter |
 Pregnant women should receive Child Benefit the report says |
Women should be paid Child Benefit during pregnancy in order to help tackle poverty, a report has said. Five think-tanks from across the political spectrum were asked by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to write reports outlining cures for poverty.
The reports called for higher benefit payments and an improved social fund to help disabled people back into work.
In addition, the reports attacked the government over stealth taxes and failing poor two-parent families.
POVERTY IN BRITAIN What is the poverty line and how many live beneath it? 
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The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR), Social Market Foundation, Policy Exchange, Scottish Council Foundation and the Institute of Welsh Affairs each penned reports to mark the start of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's centenary year.
The think-tanks were asked to outline how the government should tackle poverty over the next 20 years.
The UK has a higher percentage of its population in poverty than any other major western economy, apart from Italy and the United States.
The Labour government was praised for having bucked international trends in the 1990's by preventing the UK from becoming a more unequal society.
However, the gap between rich and poor has not narrowed since Labour came to power.
Poverty 'overlooked'
The government has set itself the goal of halving child poverty by 2010.
In order to help the government reach its target, the IPPR said there was a "compelling case" for the extension of Child Benefit to pregnant mothers.
The payment of Child Benefit to pregnant mothers would help soften the blow when mothers had to give up work in the run-up to giving birth.
The Social Market Foundation in its report said that poverty in large families was being overlooked and needed to be remedied by reform of the benefits and tax credit system.
The report added that poverty amongst homeowners was rife.
"If these areas aren't addressed the Labour government is fighting poverty and disadvantage with one hand tied behind its back," the report warned.
Mean testing
Much of the government effort to alleviate poverty has been directed at pensioners and lone parents through a series of means-tested benefits and tax credits.
 | How to tackle UK poverty Pregnant mothers to receive Child Benefit Less means testing in the benefits system Increase some benefits by more than inflation Reform of Housing Benefit aimed at helping poor homeowners Reorganisation of the Social Fund, to encourage disabled people back into the workforce Government to enter "honest and open" debate on tax Targeted help for large families Source: Joseph Rowntree Foundation Overcoming Disadvantage report |
The spread of means testing was criticised by the right-of-centre Policy Exchange and the IPPR, often categorised as a New Labour think-tank.
Both think tanks agreed that there was too much means testing, with many bona fide claimants, particularly pensioners, put off.
In addition, the Policy Exchange called for the government to raise some benefits by more than inflation - a sharp departure from the policies pursued by the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major.
Back to work
The Policy Exchange said that not enough was being done to encourage the disabled and those in receipt of Incapacity Benefit back into the workplace.
Many parts of the UK are dogged by low employment rates and as a result suffer poverty. The Institute of Welsh Affairs said that more than 20% of people in the Welsh valleys are registered sick or disabled.
The Policy Exchange and the Social Market Foundation called for improvements to the Social Fund aimed at easing the transition from benefits to the workplace.
Wealthy enough
Overall, the IPPR concluded that the UK was wealthy enough to eradicate poverty altogether but had chosen not to do so.
The IPPR called on the government to enter an "open and honest" debate on taxation.
 Government is committed to halving child poverty by 2010 |
"The government has met with some criticism not for its attempts to alleviate poverty, but for the manner in embarked on this agenda - namely by stealth.
"The link has not been made between tax increases and benefit increases and other poverty reduction policies," the report concluded.
"Doing good by stealth has the disadvantage of not being seen to be doing good," the IPPR warned.
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Doing good by stealth has the disadvantage of not being seen to be doing good
