Labour MPs are warning that millions of vulnerable people face a “brutal winter” amid rising energy prices and benefits cuts, including the abolition of winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.

Keir Starmer’s government has pledged to improve conditions for those most in need, with a commitment to “reduce and alleviate” child poverty and end the “moral scarring” of food banks. And while Labour sees economic growth and the creation of more secure, better-paid jobs as crucial to achieving these goals, it cannot ignore a number of pressing and often interlinked problems within the welfare and benefits system.

In this article we discuss some of the services available to vulnerable people and discuss those most in need of a drastic overhaul.

Universal credit

The value of the main benefit for 6 million low-income households has lagged behind rising food and energy costs, leaving millions struggling to afford essential items. Many claims are also subject to tax deductions. The five-week wait claimants must endure for a first payment is seen as a design flaw that encourages poverty and food bank use. Labour has pledged to overhaul universal credit.

The two-child limit on benefits

Conceived by former Tory chancellor George Osborne and dubbed Britain’s worst welfare policy, this symbol of austerity-era cruelty affects 1.6 million children and turbocharges poverty in larger families. Hated by Labour MPs and even some Tories, it would cost £1.7bn to scrap. The Treasury seems determined to keep it in place to demonstrate its commitment to fiscal discipline.

The bedroom tax and the maximum allowances

The infamous two-child limit tends to overshadow the continued existence of this pair of punitive Tory measures. They are seen as major causes of deprivation and poverty, affecting hundreds of thousands of low-income households. The cost of abolishing them would be around £700 million. Experts say that a government seriously committed to reducing poverty would abolish them.

Health care allowance

Carers’ Allowance was largely ignored until a Guardian investigation revealed how hundreds of thousands of unpaid carers were being ruthlessly punished for unwittingly breaking complex earnings rules, sparking public outrage and comparisons to the Post Office scandal. It is an outdated, badly designed and badly managed allowance claimed by 1 million carers, many of whom live in poverty. Labour has said it will review the allowance.

Household Support Fund

The government cannot wait until next year to unveil its child poverty strategy to decide whether to retain the £1bn Household Support Fund, which expires on 30 September. The ad hoc crisis fund is used by councils to support families in or at risk of poverty and to provide food vouchers during the school holidays. If it is not extended, it will lead to widespread half-term hunger among poorer schoolchildren, charities say.

Personal Independence Payment

The previous government proposed cutting Britain’s sky-high disability benefits bill by limiting claims for the Personal Independence Payment (Pip), a non-means-tested benefit that helps with the extra living costs caused by long-term disability or ill health. Charities said this would create poverty and hardship. But with the Pip bill expected to cost £35bn a year by 2030, Labour cannot avoid the issue.

Unclaimed Benefits

The Treasury may not be keen to convince people to withdraw an estimated £23bn a year in unclaimed benefits, but it does want to encourage poorer pensioners to claim pension credit to cushion the impact of cuts to the winter fuel allowance. Campaigners say ensuring more low-income households get the full financial help they are entitled to would be a major step in the fight against poverty.