The cost of living crisis could leave the poorest Brits £1,600-a-year worse off - even AFTER government payments are taken into account.
A new report found support for low-income households has fallen short of offsetting the losses they face as prices soar.
Downing Street said it will be for the next Prime Minister - who only takes office in a month - to decide any new help for Brits to pay energy bills .
The new report, carried out by Professor Donald Hirsch at Loughborough University, said up to £1,200 offered to the poorest in society this year will fail to compensate for three major blows to their income from October 2021 to October 2022.
The loss of the £20-a-week Universal Credit uplift last year; April’s annual rise which was less than inflation, and a huge jump in the
energy bills price cap will mean the worst-off families cannot bridge the gap.
This is because the flat-rate payments offered by the Government fail to take into account the different sizes and needs of different households, it says.
A couple with three children are losing almost as much again from rising prices as they did from last year's cut in the Universal Credit uplift.
And the loss for an out-of-work couple with two children is nearly £1,300, or £1,600 if higher inflation for worse-off households is taken into account, according to the report.
This is based on an £800 rise in the energy price cap, and will be higher to the extent that it increases further.
An annual uprating in April 2022 of 3.1%, rather than the 9% that the Consumer Prices Index had risen over the past year, will add to the cost-of-living pressure, the analysis suggests.
The Food Foundation, one of the organisations to endorse the findings of the report, described the conclusions as "alarming".
Isabel Hughes, policy engagement manager at the charity, 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 living in poverty who currently miss out on this vital safety net.
"Ensuring these children's access to one nutritious hot meal a day is the quickest way to prevent an under-nutrition epidemic which will otherwise blight the education, health and future productivity prospects of a generation."
Meanwhile, the Child Poverty Action Group and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation told The Independent cost of living support needed to be doubled from £15 billion to £30 billion before winter.
Writing exclusively for Monday's Mirror, Gordon Brown urged ministers to convene rolling meetings of the Whitehall emergencies panel that meets in a Westminster bunker - usually after terror attacks, major floods or other disasters.
Mr Brown wrote: “COBRA, the government’s disaster emergency committee, should be in permanent session to deal with the coming fuel and energy crisis.
“Even if Boris Johnson has now gone on holiday, his deputies should be negotiating hard to buy new oil and gas supplies from other countries and they should be urgently creating the extra storage capacity that we currently lack.”
But asked about Mr Brown's plea, Boris Johnson's official spokesman said: "Clearly these global pressures mean challenging times for the public.
"The government recognised that the end of the year will bring wider challenges with things like changes to the price cap.
"That's why... we introduced a number of measures to help the public - several million payments of the first part of the £650 cost of living payment [to benefit claimants] have been made.
"In October, everyone will see £400 start to come off their energy bills in a phased way. Nearly one in 10 people will get a £150 disability payment.
"And millions of pensioner households will see an extra £300 through their winter fuel payments in November and December.
"Now clearly, some of the global pressures have increased since that was announced.
"You'll understand that by convention, it's not for this Prime Minister to make major fiscal interventions during this period. It would be for a future Prime Minister."
Asked if the PM could sit down with the two candidates and work out an emergency package for the Autumn, No10 replied: "There are no plans for that to happen. It will be for a future Prime Minister to decide whether or what measures are required."
A Government spokesperson said: "We understand that people are struggling with rising prices, which is why we have 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.
"Through our £37 billion support package we are also saving the typical employee over £330 a year through a tax cut in July, allowing people on Universal Credit to keep £1,000 more of what they earn and cutting fuel duty by 5p, saving a typical family £100."
