Gordon Brown must spend a "basic minimum" of £4 billion more to achieve his goal of cutting child poverty in the UK, a coalition of charities and unions said.
In a letter to the Chancellor they welcomed the fact that 700,000 children have been lifted out of poverty in five years but said it was not enough. The message was delivered by a group of schoolchildren from a deprived area of south east London.
Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton is expected to hail inroads into child poverty on Wednesday, but warn there is plenty left to do. A report from the Department for Work and Pensions will show there were 700,000 fewer children living in poverty in 2004/5 compared to 1997.
The Government aims to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020. But the End Child Poverty group said current policies and resources would not enable these targets to be met.
The director, Hilary Fisher, said: "We are just saying at the very, very basic minimum you need to commit this amount of money. There is widespread concern that the Government must take action now otherwise they will fail their child poverty targets. We are concerned of complacency setting in and child poverty slipping further and further down the agenda."
Extra funding was needed in areas such as health, education, housing, childcare and benefits, she said. The leaders of 53 organisations including children's charities, trade unions, faith groups and businesses, signed the letter to the Chancellor.
It said that despite being the world's fourth wealthiest nation, the UK had 3.4million children living in poverty. In the EU, only Italy, Portugal, and Slovakia had higher rates. The six children, aged 10 to 11, delivering the letter, were from Victory Park Primary School in Elephant and Castle.
Mr Hutton said that there had been "significant and sustained progress" in combating poverty. Out of 59 Government indicators used by the Opportunities For All report, 40 showed improvements over time.
"Overall, there are now 700,000 fewer children living in relative low income than in 1998/9 (before housing costs) and around 440,000 fewer children in households where no-one works," Mr Hutton said.
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In a written statement to MPs, he went on to say: "There is, of course, still more to do. Poverty and social exclusion are deep-rooted problems that have built up over many years. Tackling the root causes of poverty takes time as well as commitment and investment. However, this report shows that we are now starting to see real signs of equally deep-rooted and lasting change that will help individuals and communities take control of their lives and break the inter-generational cycle of poverty and deprivation."
