Petition · past parliament · Department for Work and Pensions
Increase and extend child benefit to tackle coronavirus hunger
Closed
61 signatures
What the petition asks
Increase child benefit to £50 per child per week immediately so parents can feed their children. Make child benefit once again a meaningful measure to tackle poverty. Lift the benefit cap and extend child benefit to families with no recourse to public funds so no child is hungry.
Since lockdown began, over 5 million people in households with children have experienced poverty and food insecurity. This is double an estimate from 2018. More than 200,000 children have had to skip meals because their parents could not access enough food. This hunger compounds the impact that lockdown has had upon sharpening educational inequalities. It is a shocking increase on what were already unacceptable levels of hunger and destitution in our affluent nation. Free children from hunger.
Timeline
| 1 Sep 2020 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 1 Mar 2021 | Closed to new signatures |
Key facts
Signatures
61
Status
Closed
Department
Department for Work and Pensions
Opened
1 Sep 2020
Closed
1 Mar 2021
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.