An updated analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests that the combined effect of all the tax and benefit changes effective from April 2012 would be an average loss of £511 per year for households with children. In Tax and Benefit changes, excluding those affecting mainly the very rich, the Institute for Fiscal Studies takes into account a long list of changes, some announced as long ago as the 2010 Budget but only coming into force now.

It shows:

• the skewed impact of the changes, with the biggest losses in income suffered by those on the lowest 30 per cent of incomes
• households with children will lose compared with working-age households without children, and with pensioner households
• households with children will lose £511 per year on average, compared with just £156 for working-age households without children.

Similar conclusions are reached by the Child Poverty Action Group in their post-Budget briefing. They highlight the fact that April 2012 cuts to family support will total nearly £2.2 billion (mostly relating to tax credits), rising to an annual £3.5 billion by 2015/16 – with the likelihood that the slow decline in child poverty since 1990 will be put into reverse.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies briefing is available on their website: Tax and Benefit Changes, Excluding Those Affecting Mainly the Very Rich, Robert Joyce.