Campbell Robb, chief executive officer at Joseph Rowntree Foundation, has now said: "As we prepare to leave the EU, we have to make sure that our country and our economy works for everyone and doesn’t leave even more people behind."
Mr Alston's report found households are expected to have to cope with a reduction of £4.4bn in 2019/20 alone.
He explained women were particularly affected by poverty, as reductions in social care services translate to an increased burden on primary caregivers who are disproportionately women.
He said: "This year, when the chancellor could have used the windfall he received from the Office for Budget Responsibility to end the benefit freeze a year earlier than planned, he instead chose to change income tax thresholds in a way that will help those better off and will do nothing to move the needle on poverty.
"Austerity could easily have spared the poor, if the political will had existed to do so.
"The negotiations surrounding Brexit present an opportunity to take stock of the current situation and reimagine what this country should represent and how it protects its people."
Venilia Batista Amorim is a freelance writer for FTAdviser
