News

Five million children face living in poverty by 2020

Pupil wellbeing
Despite a growing economy, the UK is set to see a record level of child poverty as wages remain low and welfare cuts continue, with fears that almost five million children could be in poverty by 2020. Pete Henshaw reports.

As many as 1.4 million more children could be pushed into living in poverty within the next six years, a national charity has claimed.

Around 3.5 million children are already living in poverty in the UK – around 27 per cent – and analysis from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has predicted that this figure could rise by a third between now and 2020 because of low real-wage growth and announced social security cuts.

However, a new report from Save the Children has warned that further expected cuts to welfare, weaker than anticipated wage growth, and dramatic increases to the cost of living could lead to a further 325,000 more children sliding into poverty.

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