The government has lost control of the cost of living crisis – here's how businesses must step in | Gordon Brown

To fight the ravages of poverty this winter, we urgently need a new social contract between companies and charities

A few weeks ago, a father walked into a charity warehouse, dumped his distraught 16-year-old son and walked away for good, saying he could no longer afford to keep him.

The distress of that teenager cannot be dismissed as an isolated incident: the Lancet, the medical journal, has reported that poverty, as distinct from neglect, parental addictions or domestic violence, is now a principal cause of children being forced into care. Indeed, in a survey of low-income families in Fife, 11% of parents reported that without essential goods provided by local charities, their children might already be in care. By 2025, according to the County Councils Network, there could be as many as 100,000 in care in England alone.

Gordon Brown was UK prime minister from 2007 to 2010