The coronavirus crisis has resulted in a sharp increase in poverty and low incomes across the UK, but the outcome would have been much worse without additional government support this year, according to two independent think-tank reports published on Monday.

The Legatum Institute found that the number of people living in poverty had risen by almost 700,000 to 15.2m this year as a result of the pandemic’s impact on jobs, wages and profits while the New Economics Foundation warned that a third of the UK’s population would be living below the minimum socially acceptable standard of living by next spring on current government policy.

The similar findings from think-tanks on both sides of the political spectrum will put further pressure on ministers to extend a temporary uplift to universal credit past its current expiry date at the end of March.