Six million people in the UK would need to more than double their income just to escape poverty, a new report has found.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) UK poverty report says one in five people in the UK (22%) were in poverty in 2021-22, including more than four million children.

It has now been 20 years – and six prime ministers – since there was a sustained fall in poverty, the charity added.

The JRF has continued to call on the Government to introduce an ‘essentials guarantee' into Universal Credit to ensure the basic rate does not fall below what is needed to cover essentials like food and energy.

The chair of the Local Government Association's economy and resources board, Pete Marland, said: ‘We have long called for a sufficiently resourced national safety net for low-income households and those who cannot work, as this report recommends, allowing councils to target vital local welfare support to the most vulnerable.'

Cllr Marland urged the Government to extend the Household Support Fund (HSF), which is due to end in March, for at least another year.

He said: ‘Without an urgent extension of the HSF, there is an immediate risk of more households falling into financial crisis, homelessness and poverty.'

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said it continues to ‘keep all existing programmes and cost-of-living measures under review'.

A DWP spokesperson said the Government is continuing to support families with a £104bn support package from 2022-25, which includes raising benefits in line with inflation, unfreezing Local Housing Allowance for 2024-25 and the HSF.