THOUSANDS families in East Staffordshire and South Derbyshire would benefit if the Government ended its freeze on child benefits, a union has said.
A report from the trade union, Unison, has said 711,115 families in the West Midlands and 564,375 families in the East Midlands would gain from the move.
The decision would make thousands of families with two children better off by up to £200 a year, the report said.
The report also said the growing problem of child poverty could also be eased by the move.
More than half a million children in the UK could fall into poverty by 2015, the union said.
East Midlands Regional Secretary Helen Black, said: “The true blue Tory-led coalition is a government of the rich for the rich.
“It is a disgrace that child poverty is growing in the UK because of benefit and welfare cuts, whilst millionaires are being handed tax cuts.
“Low paid families cannot afford to save. Restoring child benefit levels would lead to more spending in local shops and businesses, giving our beleaguered high streets the boost they need.”
The government’s decision to cut the 50p rate of tax would hand the 13,000 millionaires in the UK an average of £97,884.62 next year, at a cost to the Treasury of £1,272.5 million, according to Unison.
If this tax had been collected, it could have funded an increase to child benefit, in line with inflation, for the first two children in every family, helping 12,049,360 children and nearly 8 million families in the UK.
A family with one child will get £114.50 a year less than they would have received if child benefit had been raised in line with inflation.
A family with two children will get £190.09 a year less, and a family with three children will get £265.66 less.
