Anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe has urged the government to help low-income families, who are hit hardest by rising bills.
The food writer joined a panel speaking before the Work and Pensions Committee on the cost of living crisis.
Panellists urged the government to intervene with urgent changes to the way all performance is assessed.
Mike Brewer of the independent think tank Resolution Foundation called for an immediate increase in Universal Credit.
That benefit will only increase by 3.1% if inflation could hit 8%, he said.
He also called for other benefits, such as pensions, to be increased in the fall.
The idea of increasing benefits in April based solely on last year’s inflation figure “works well when inflation is stable,” Mr Brewer said, but in these unusual times “just comes apart a bit”.
Morgan Vine of the Independent Age charity called for targeted support for families on the lowest incomes.
National Energy Action’s Peter Smith highlighted that the £200 announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak would be deducted from household energy bills in England, Scotland and Wales from October and paid back in installments over five years. Mr Smith said this should be given as a non-refundable grant to vulnerable customers.
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Ms Monroe said the prices of bread, rice, pasta and cooking oil are rising dramatically because many of their raw materials are imported from Russia and Ukraine.
“So it’s the people who are already struggling that are really going to fight for the most basic household items, the absolute bones of what you need to run a household,” she said.
She said: “Today millions of children in Britain live in poverty and the financial situation of their families is becoming increasingly unsustainable.
“The impact of the cost-of-living crisis on these households will be fatal in some cases, and that’s not a term I use lightly.”
Ms Monroe said there was “definitely work to be done to conduct a proper inquiry into the rise of food banks in the UK”.
She said the welfare system was “patched and held together by ordinary citizens and volunteers.”
“I don’t know whose responsibility it is to conduct this investigation, but I suspect they are probably in this house,” she said.
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