The British government’s policies of austerity are directly linked to a rise in poverty in the United Kingdom, a United Nations expert said in a scathing report on Friday after a two-week fact-finding mission to the country’s poorest districts.

Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur for extreme poverty and human rights, concluded that efforts by the Conservative government to pare state spending were “entrenching high levels of poverty and inflicting unnecessary misery in one of the richest countries in the world,” his team said in a statement about his preliminary findings.

Since 2010, the Conservative government has announced more than 30 billion pounds, or nearly $40 billion, in cuts to welfare payments, housing subsidies and social services, and the British leadership is in “a state of denial” about the devastation its policies have wrought, Mr. Alston said.

Although overall poverty levels have remained fairly constant under the Conservative government, most measures show that poverty has risen among children and working families.

The use of food banks almost doubled between 2013 and 2017. Families that receive benefits are now more than $2,600 worse off every year, according to an analysis by the Child Poverty Action Group, an advocacy group.

The British government strongly criticized Mr. Alston’s report, citing a measure — contested by some poverty researchers — that suggests poverty had in fact fallen during its tenure.

“We completely disagree with this analysis,” the Department for Work and Pensions, which has overseen the welfare changes, said in an emailed statement. “With this government’s changes, household incomes have never been higher, income inequality has fallen, the number of children living in workless households is at a record low and there are now one million fewer people living in absolute poverty compared with 2010.”

The release of the report coincided with a crucial stage in negotiations for a British withdrawal from the European Union, scheduled for the end of March, and Mr. Alston warned that Brexit, as it is commonly known, “poses particular risks for people in poverty, but the government appears to be treating this as an afterthought.”

The departure of Britain from the European Union will almost certainly put pressure on the British economy and cause additional problems for the poor, especially for young people, because living costs would likely rise and money from Brussels would dry up, according to a joint assessment by seven leading children’s charities.

The rapporteur was particularly scathing of bungled efforts to streamline the way welfare payments are made to individual recipients after delays in a shift to a new system, known as Universal Credit, led thousands of people to fall into poverty.

“The introduction of Universal Credit and significant reductions in the amount of and eligibility for important forms of support have undermined the capacity of benefits to loosen the grip of poverty,” Mr. Alston’s statement said.

His remarks came at the end of a tour of nine towns and cities in Britain, where the rapporteur’s team met with hundreds of welfare recipients, anti-poverty campaigners, officials and politicians. His findings were also based on analysis of nearly 300 written submissions from academics and members of the public.

Although poverty rapporteurs typically spend most of their time in the developing world, Mr. Alston said it was important to visit Britain, the world’s fifth-richest country, because its policies were a litmus test for the politics of austerity.

“The U.K. was a world leader in social security after World War II, it was a world leader on privatization on a large scale, and it is a world leader right now in self-imposed austerity,” he said in an interview earlier on his visit. “And so it is an important case study to better understand the implications of an austerity approach.”

Koldo Casla, a poverty researcher who submitted evidence to Mr. Alston during his visit, welcomed his conclusions, in particular the way he drew a direct line between government policy and British poverty.

“We must hold those responsible accountable,” said Dr. Casla, policy director at Just Fair, a poverty campaign group. “These last two weeks, Alston has been an invaluable loudspeaker for hundreds of people that are too often paid very little attention to.”

The British government strongly criticized Mr. Alston’s report, citing a measure — contested by some poverty researchers — that suggests poverty has in fact fallen during its tenure.

“We completely disagree with this analysis,” the Department for Work and Pensions, which has overseen the welfare changes, said in an emailed statement. “With this government’s changes, household incomes have never been higher, income inequality has fallen, the number of children living in workless households is at a record low and there are now one million fewer people living in absolute poverty compared with 2010.”

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