GOVERNMENT support for low-income households during the cost-of-living crisis is failing to offset the impact of rising prices, with some families up to £1,600 worse off, according to an “alarming” new report published today.

The additional £1,200 offered to the poorest this year will fail to compensate for three major blows to their income in the 12 months leading up to this October, the analysis, commissioned by Labour former prime Gordon Brown, suggests.

Last autumn’s withdrawal of the £20-a-week universal credit uplift and introduction of real-terms cuts to benefits, combined with further jumps in the energy price cap this October, mean that the worst-off families cannot bridge the gap, it warns.

The report said that the largest families would face the greatest losses because the flat-rate support payments on offer, including the £400-per-household energy grant, fail to take into accounty the varying sizes and needs of different households.

In an introduction to the paper, signed by 56 charities, organisations and faith groups, Mr Brown, who was prime minister between 2007 and 2010 after serving as chancellor for 10 years, called on Westminster to take “immediate action.”

He said: “It is the urgent task of the next prime minister to ensure that families have enough to live, through this crisis and beyond.”

Both Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi are currently on holiday and the identity of the next occupant of Downing Street will not be known until September 5, when the Tory leadership ballot between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss closes.

Mr Brown added: “The flat-rate payments offered by government won’t stretch far enough for families who each have different needs and circumstances.

“These must be the people the next prime minister prioritises as we look for solutions.”

The Food Foundation, which endorsed the report, compiled by Professor Donald Hirsch at Loughborough University, described its conclusions as “alarming.”

The charity’s Isabel Hughes said: “There is now a very serious shortfall in support for families who are most seriously in need — urgent action is needed.

“That is why we have repeatedly called for extended access to free school meals for the millions of children who currently miss out on this vital safety net.”

A government spokesperson said that ministers had acted to “protect the eight million most vulnerable British families through at least £1,200 of direct payments this year, with additional support for pensioners and those claiming disability benefits.”