The Australian Council of Social Services said 83 per cent of people living on the lowest government income support payments including Newstart and youth allowance currently don't have enough money to make it through the week.

Providing recipients between just $30 and $37 per day, the payments have been at the centre of a long running campaign by community groups seeking increased support for vulnerable Australians.

In a report released ahead of Tuesday's federal budget, the council found financial stress and deprivation was common among disability support pensioners and those receiving parenting payments.

Nearly a third of disability support pension recipients said they had gone without meals in the past year in an effort to save money while more than half said they could not afford Christmas presents.

Along with other state and territory councils, ACT Council of Social Service director Susan Helyar called on Treasurer Joe Hockey to include an increase to the support payments, saying one in five recipients reported being unable to afford essentials including housing, food and electricity.

The report relied on a survey of more than 600 people living on welfare payments around Australia.

It showed income support payments were not enough for recipients to afford basic dental treatment, some household heating and cooling. Disability support payment recipients had the highest level of concern about medical expenses at 72 per cent, electricity at 71 per cent and food at 62 per cent.

Asked what they had been forced to go without in the past 12 months because of financial stress, 31 per cent of survey participants said Christmas presents, 30 per cent said dental appointments, 27 per cent said car services and 22 per cent said birthday presents for family and friends.

More than a quarter of those on Newstart payments reported their spending exceeded their weekly income and 48 per cent said they could break even.

Ms Helyar said she was not optimistic the Abbott government would heed calls for increased support but an extra $50 a week could be the difference between being homeless and stable housing.

"It would be a severe mistake to leave people on these inadequate income support payments when we know that unemployment is going up and under-employment is a growing problem," she said.

"The cost of Newstart Allowance is something like $9 billion a year out of the whole social security budget. It is actually quite a small component so lifting the rate would make a substantial difference and would not be a huge impost on the budget."

She said most Canberrans would know at least one person relying on government income support payment or who had used it in the past.

"They know it is tough living on that amount of money," she said.

Mr Hockey will hand down his second budget on Tuesday, expected to include pension changes which will see more than 91,000 self-funded retirees lose access to part pension payments because of a tough new assets test.

About 236,000 people will see cuts to their part pension and 50,000 part pensioners will be upgraded to full pension payments.