Figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions show that 30 per cent of children – around four million – are now living in UK households with a relative low income after housing costs.
The figures are for 2015/16 and represent a one per cent rise on 2014/15.
A household is judged to have relative low income if it earns below 60 per cent of the median income for the UK. The current median income is £481 a week before housing costs (about £25,100 a year) and £413 after housing costs (about £21,500 a year).
The latest figures also show that 67 per cent of children in poverty have at least one parent in work – up from 66 per cent in 2014/15.
The figures have been published in the same week as separate research showing that the poorest children are now 10 times more likely to become involved in the child protection system than the least deprived.
The study has been conducted by academics at seven British universities and is based on data of 35,000 children who are either looked after or on a child protection plan.
It shows that children in the most deprived 10 per cent of neighbourhoods in the UK are 10 times more likely to be in care than children in the least deprived 10 per cent. Other findings include:
- Around one in every 60 children are in care in England’s most deprived neighbourhoods, compared with one in 660 in the least deprived areas.
- Across the UK, each step increase in deprivation brings a rise of around a third in a child’s chances of being in care.
- In all countries children are over-represented in the most deprived 20 per cent of neighbourhoods, particularly so in Northern Ireland.
One of the academics involved in the study, Brid Featherstone, professor of social work at the University of Huddersfield, said that the fact large numbers of the most deprived children end up in care was “already widely recognised”.
She added: “But there hasn’t been good quality research. Now, this data confirms what people have been saying anecdotally. Most importantly, the results say to the government, ‘don’t you think we should be looking at this?’”
The research team, which was led by Professor Paul Bywaters of Coventry University, also found that children living in equivalent neighbourhoods in different local authorities have very different chances of being in care, with low deprivation local authorities around 50 per cent more likely to intervene.
Prof Bywaters said: “We’ve known for years that child abuse and neglect is linked to poverty, but there’s been a fundamental gap in our understanding of how a child’s family circumstances, and neighbourhood deprivation or locality impacts their chances of the state intervening to improve their life chances. This is partly because, extraordinarily, no data is systematically collected and published about the socio-economic background of the families whose children are involved with the child welfare system. Our study puts in place some strong foundations to build on and change that.”
Meanwhile, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has previously estimated that child poverty will rise to as many as five million by the year 2020.
Commenting on the updated child poverty figures, Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society, said: “Any child living in poverty is one too many, but it is truly shocking that four million children are now affected by poverty. The situation is clearly getting worse, with nearly a third of children, or around nine in the average classroom, now living in poverty.
“We know that poverty has a devastating impact on children’s lives. It can lead to them missing out on hot meals, sleeping in cold bedrooms and being bullied at school, as well as drastically reducing their long-term life chances.
“That is why we want the government to urgently re-think policies like its four year benefits freeze, benefit cap and move to restrict child tax credits to a family’s first two children.
“These measures, combined with rising inflation, are creating a perfect storm in which more children – including an increasing number whose parents are in work – are falling into the poverty trap. If the government does not take immediate action, then more and more children will continue to pay the price.”