Around 350,000 more children 'pulled into' poverty, suggests new analysis

Child Poverty Action Group’s (CPAG) analysis of the Department for Work and Pensions’ 'Households Below Average Income', covering April 2021- April 2022 shows:

• 2 million children were in poverty in the year April 2021-April 2022. This is up from 3.6 million in 2010-11.
• 350,000 more children were pulled into relative poverty (after housing costs) in 2021-2022.
• 45 per cent of all children in poverty were in families with a youngest child aged under five.
• 71 per cent of ‘poor’ children lived in working families.
• ‘Poor’ families have fallen deeper into poverty: 2.7 million children were in deep poverty (i.e. with a household income below 50 per cent of after-housing costs equivalised median income), 500,000 more than in 2010/11.
• 47 per cent of children in Asian and British Asian families are in poverty, 53 per cent of children in black/African/Caribbean and black British families, and 25 per cent of children in white families.
• 44 per cent of children in lone parent families were in poverty.
• 42 per cent of children in families with three or more children were in poverty, up from 36 per cent a decade earlier.
• 36 per cent of children living in families where someone has a disability were in poverty.

CPAG estimates that child poverty costs the UK £39.5 billion a year in lost tax and earnings, unemployment benefit and additional public services spending including £3.1 billion on the Pupil Premium and early years entitlement for disadvantaged two-year-olds. This is up from £25bn in 2008.

Its analysis, put together by Donald Hirsch, director of the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, highlights that since 2021, spending on the Pupil Premium has risen from £2.5 billion to £2.7 billion a year, while spending on funded two-year-old places has fallen from £0.5 billion to £0.4 billion.

The research goes on to warn that based upon forecasts of continued growth in child poverty, the current estimated £39.5bn annual cost will reach £40.4 billion in 2027 (in today’s prices).

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) chief executive Alison Garnham said, ‘Children pay the highest possible price for poverty – they pay with their health, their wellbeing and their life chances. Our research shows the country also pays a heavy financial price. 

‘The latest DWP figures show that investing in social security is the way to remove children from poverty.  Indeed, the Government did lift many kids from poverty with the £20 universal credit increase, but it plunged them back again with a subsequent cut.  

‘In the face of today’s grim figures, and with another rise in inflation, it’s inexcusable for ministers to sit on their hands. The Government must extend free school meals, remove the benefit cap and two-child limit and increase child benefit.  The human cost for the children in today’s figures is incalculable.  The economic fallout for all of us is vast.  But if the political will is there, child poverty can be fixed.’

'Ministers know what works but are choosing not to do it.'

Commenting on the Government figures, director of policy and campaigns at Action for Children, Imran Hussain, said, ‘It’s astonishing that despite the pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis and the prospect of rising child poverty for years to come, the Government is not targeting help for children in low-income families.

‘Ministers know what works but are choosing not to do it. The £20-a-week increase to universal credit helped cut child poverty in the first year of the pandemic, but that help was snatched away from families 18 months later.’

Mark Russell, chief executive at The Children’s Society, said, ‘Poverty has a devastating impact on children’s lives, missing out on hot meals, sleeping in cold bedrooms and being bullied at school, and drastically reducing their long terms prospects.   

‘It’s a national scandal that children are still living in poverty in one of the richest countries in the world. The Government need to make it their priority to lift children out of poverty now, ensure families have the support they need, and improve children’s life chances.’