Child Poverty Map of the UK
The End Child Poverty campaign is a coalition of over 100 charities committed to ending child poverty in the UK. This report provides a localised map of child poverty on the closest possible measure to that used nationally by the government. The figures presented are for mid 2012. They show the scale of the challenge to achieve this goal, especially in some local areas. In 69 wards throughout the UK, the majority of children (50% and above) remain in poverty.
Child Poverty damages children’s experiences of childhood and harms their future life chances. We know from research earlier this year by Save the Children that::
- well over half of parents in poverty (61%) say they have cut back on food and over a quarter (26%) say they have skipped meals in the past year.
- around 1 in 5 parents in poverty (19%) say their children have to go without new shoes when they need them.
- a large number of children in poverty say they are missing out on things that many other children take for granted, such as going on school trips (19%) and having a warm coat in winter (14%).
- only 1 in 5 parents in poverty (20%) say they have not had to borrow money to pay for essentials, such as food and clothes, in the past year.
End Child Poverty believes that we need action at the national, regional and local level to meet the goal embedded in the Child Poverty Act 2010 to end child poverty by 2020.
At a national level, the signs for child poverty are worrying. Even though the latest available national figures showed a fall in relative poverty up until early 2011, because unlike median incomes, benefits were not falling in real terms, this improvement is now reversing. The Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts a growth in child poverty of 400,000 between 2011 and 2015, and a total of 800,000 by 2020.2 This prediction came before recent announcements about benefits uprating: the Welfare Uprating Bill currently being debated in Parliament is expected to push another 200,000 children into poverty.3 We’re calling on the UK Government to set out how it will meet its commitment in the Child Poverty Act to end child poverty by 2020.
But action at a local level can also make a difference, and levels of child poverty vary widely across the country. With the UK Government devolving more decisions about how families are supported to a local level, it’s all the more important that we pay attention to local child poverty levels.
Published : 26th February 2013
Publisher : End Child Poverty [ More From This Publisher ]
Rights : End Child Poverty
This resource is not currently associated to any Issues
This resource is not currently associated to any Campaigns
Have Your Say
Members are able discuss this resource in the BASW Member Forum. Please login to allow this feature.
Continuous Professional Development
Members are able to add an entry to their CPD record here. Please login to allow this feature.
