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4Children advises ways to meet poverty targets

An independent child poverty commission should be created to spearhead the fight against social inequality, allied to guaranteed childcare, positive activities for older children and increases in tax credits and benefits, the charity 4Children said on Monday.

The recommendations are made in a policy pamphlet, Turning Up the Volume on Child Poverty, which includes contributions from the three major political parties and was launched at the charity's annual conference in London.

The Government should build on the free entitlement for three- and four-year-olds and offer an 'early years childcare guarantee for every parent to ensure that there is flexible and affordable childcare for all who need it,' it said.

To meet its target of eliminating child poverty by 2020, the Government should invest £3 billion immediately in tax credits and benefit. The working tax credit for couples with children should rise to £91.31 a week, at a cost of £1.6 billion, to lift 200,000 families out of poverty.

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