Increase in child poverty shows levelling up challenge

The End Child Poverty Coalition has revealed that, before the pandemic, nearly all youngsters are becoming an adult in poverty in certain parts of the UK, once housing cost is taken into account.

The studies have shown the North East of England has seen probably the most dramatic rise in child poverty previously five years, fuelled by stagnating family incomes. The child poverty rate has risen by on the third – from 26 per cent to 37 percent – over five years, moving from just below the united kingdom average towards the second highest of any region, after London. A third from the overall increase happened within the latest year with many low-paid workers pushed below the poverty line through the freeze in their in-work benefits.

The new data also confirms London and Birmingham, two UK’s largest cities, as getting the greatest concentrations of child poverty with a dozen constituencies showing nearly all children living below the poverty line, before large numbers of people started losing their jobs as a result of the pandemic.

Anna Feuchtwang, chair of the End Child Poverty Coalition, said: “The figures speak for themselves – the situation for kids couldn’t be starker. Everybody wants to reside in a society where youngsters are supported to be the very best they can be, however the reality is completely different for too many.

“The UK government could be in without doubt about the challenge it faces if it is seriously interested in ‘levelling up’ parts of the country hardest hit by poverty. After the year we’ve all had, they owe it to the children to come up with a plan to tackle child poverty that includes a boost to children’s benefits. Plus they have to scrap intends to cut Universal Credit given children and parents are having a difficult enough time because it is.”