Tag: new data

• More than half of children living in some constituencies are living in poverty after housing costs are factored in.
• Highest rates of child poverty in London and Birmingham
• Sharpest increases in child poverty in Midlands and northern cities.
• Local authority and constituency data available below.

Child poverty has risen most sharply in parts of the Midlands and Northern towns and cities in the past four years, according to research published today by the End Child Poverty coalition showing the scale of the challenge faced by government if it is to realise its ambition to build back better and level up opportunities for children across the UK.

The research by Loughborough University shows that, before the pandemic, in some parts of the country the majority of children were growing up in poverty, once housing costs are taken into account.

The greatest concentrations of children living in poverty are in London, with London boroughs and parts of Birmingham dominating the list of local authorities where child poverty is highest. In a dozen constituencies in London and Birmingham, more than half the children are living below the poverty line.

Yet the research also shows that the problem is not confined to the UK’s two largest cities. In the last four years, child poverty has risen fastest in parts of the Midlands and Northern towns and cities. Middlesbrough and parts of Tyneside have seen child poverty rates soar by over 10 percentage points since 2014/15.

In the past, low incomes in these areas were counteracted by cheaper housing costs, but during the five years leading up to 2018/19, rents in other parts of the country have risen by the same amount as in the capital, so in places where incomes are being depressed, this is less likely to be offset by falling relative housing costs.

Many of these families find, that once their housing costs are paid, they do not have enough money to meet their children’s needs and are left no option but to turn to crisis help, like food banks, and are increasingly reliant on free school meals.

The impact of poverty on children is well documented with children from low income families more likely to experience worse physical and mental health; do less well in school; and have fewer opportunities in the future.

The coalition is calling on the Government to recognise the scale of the problem and its impact on children’s lives. They are urging the Government to set out an ambitious plan to tackle child poverty encompassing not only social security spending but the high cost of housing and childcare and investment in children’s services.

The report is based on data published by the Department for Work and Pensions in March 2020, and on estimates of the effect of housing costs on poverty rates produced by the Centre for Research in Social Policy  at Loughborough University, based on survey evidence.

Earlier this year, Boris Johnson was rebuked by the statistics watchdog for his repeated misuse of child poverty statistics. The Statistics Authority upheld a complaint from the End Child Poverty coalition judging that on three separate occasions his statements on child poverty were ‘incorrect’.

Anna Feuchtwang, Chair of End Child Poverty which commissioned the research, said: “The Government can be in no doubt about the challenge it faces if it is serious about ‘levelling up’ disadvantaged parts of the country.

“This new data reveals the true extent of the hardship experienced by families on low incomes – the overwhelming majority of which were working households before the pandemic. The children affected are on a cliff edge, and the pandemic will only sweep them further into danger.

“The Prime Minister must urgently admit to the true extent of child poverty in our country rather than resorting to his own inaccurate statistics. An ambitious plan to   put this shameful situation right would be transformational for millions of children.

“As a matter of urgency we are calling on the Chancellor not to go ahead with planned cuts to Universal Credit which would see families lose out on £1000 a year. Given today’s data, this cut is unconscionable.”

End Child Poverty is calling for an urgent Government plan to end child poverty including:

• Uprating of housing assistance in line with inflation;
• Retain the £20 uplift in Universal Credit introduced at the start of the pandemic, which the Government has indicated will end in April 2021(a move supported by over 63k people and counting who have signed a petition to the Government);
• End the benefit cap and the two-child limit on benefits;
• Invest in all children with an increase to child benefit
• Extend Free School Meals to all families in receipt of Universal Credit and those with No Recourse to Public Funds

The full report ‘Local indicators of child poverty after housing costs, 2018/19’, as well as tables with local data, are available at: www.endchildpoverty.org.uk

THE PICTURE IN SCOTLAND

Child poverty has risen in nearly every Scottish local authority and Westminster constituency since 2014/15, according to research published today by the End Child Poverty coalition.

The new data shows the scale of the challenge faced by UK, Scottish and local government if commitments to end child poverty in Scotland are to be met and the promise to level up opportunities for children across the UK realised. 

The research by Loughborough University shows that, even before the pandemic, levels of child poverty in Scotland ranged from one in  seven children in the Shetland Islands to nearly one in three in Glasgow, once housing costs are taken into account. The varying impact of housing costs on levels of child poverty in different parts of the country is highlighted.

The data shows London boroughs and parts of Birmingham dominating the list of UK local authorities where child poverty is highest – however the campaigners say that there can be no room for complacency in Scotland.

They highlight that the impact of poverty on children is well documented with children from low income families more likely to experience worse physical and mental health; do less well in school; and have fewer opportunities in the future.

The coalition is calling on the UK Government to recognise the scale of the problem and its impact on children’s lives. They are urging UK Ministers to set out an ambitious plan to use Westminster powers to tackle child poverty across the UK, and are asking the Holyrood government to build on the Scottish child poverty delivery plan already in place.

They welcome the new Scottish child payment which will see eligible children under six entitled to £10 per week additional support from February 2021, with all under 16s benefitting by the end of 2022.

However they say that just to stop child poverty rising will require a doubling in the value of the new payment, and that families need urgent cash support now to bridge the gap until it’s roll out.

The report is based on data published by the Department for Work and Pensions in March 2020, and on estimates of the effect of housing costs on poverty rates produced by the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, based on survey evidence.

Earlier this year, Boris Johnson was rebuked by the statistics watchdog for his repeated misuse of child poverty statistics. The Statistics Authority upheld a complaint from the End Child Poverty coalition judging that on three separate occasions his statements on child poverty were ‘incorrect’.

Speaking on behalf of members of End Child Poverty in Scotland, John Dickie, said: “The Prime Minister must urgently face up to the true extent of child poverty across the UK rather than resorting to his own inaccurate statistics. An ambitious plan to put this shameful situation right would be transformational for millions of children in Scotland and across the UK.

“As a matter of urgency we are calling on the Chancellor not to go ahead with planned cuts to Universal Credit which would see families lose out on £1000 a year. Given today’s data, this cut is unconscionable.”

Mr Dickie also called for more action from government in Scotland: “Here in Scotland the Holyrood government’s child poverty delivery plan and prioritisation of the new Scottish child payment are hugely welcome.

“But these new figures highlight the importance of keeping housing costs affordable, the importance of reviewing the value of the Scottish child payment and the urgent need to use existing payment mechanisms, like local authority school clothing grants, to provide extra financial support to families right now.”

End Child Poverty is calling for an urgent UK Government plan to end child poverty including:

• Uprating of housing assistance in line with inflation;
• Retaining the £20 uplift in Universal Credit introduced at the start of the pandemic, which the Government has indicated will end in April 2021(retaining the uplift is supported by over 63k people who have signed a petition to the UK Government);
• Ending the benefit cap and the two-child limit on benefits;
• Investing in all children with an increase to child benefit

The full report ‘Local indicators of child poverty after housing costs, 2018/19’, as well as tables with local data, are available at: www.endchildpoverty.org.uk 

Children living in poverty, below 60% median income after housing costs, by Scottish local authority
Local authority	Number	Percentage	Percentage point change (2015-19)
2014/15	2018/19	2014/15	2018/19
Aberdeen City	6439	7471	19.2%	21.5%	2.3
Aberdeenshire	7622	7938	15.6%	16.1%	0.5
Angus	4253	4608	21.6%	24.0%	2.4
Argyll and Bute	2876	3056	21.2%	23.4%	2.2
City of Edinburgh	14145	15295	18.8%	19.5%	0.7
Clackmannanshire	2250	2409	24.8%	26.8%	2.0
Dumfries and Galloway	5610	6141	23.4%	26.2%	2.8
Dundee City	5812	6540	24.5%	27.3%	2.8
East Ayrshire	5250	5899	24.8%	27.9%	3.1
East Dunbartonshire	2899	3109	15.7%	16.1%	0.5
East Lothian	4188	4489	22.3%	23.3%	1.0
East Renfrewshire	2791	2940	15.4%	15.2%	-0.2
Falkirk	6555	6929	23.1%	24.5%	1.4
Fife	15390	16993	24.0%	26.3%	2.4
Glasgow City	26146	31823	27.0%	31.8%	4.8
Highland	8637	9054	21.5%	23.0%	1.6
Inverclyde	2904	3013	22.1%	23.8%	1.7
Midlothian	3713	4068	22.8%	23.2%	0.4
Moray	3480	3617	21.0%	22.4%	1.5
Na h-Eileanan Siar	768	847	17.3%	19.5%	2.2
North Ayrshire	5895	6448	25.2%	28.3%	3.0
North Lanarkshire	15503	16528	24.4%	26.2%	1.8
Orkney Islands	691	779	19.8%	21.9%	2.1
Perth and Kinross	5013	5403	20.4%	22.2%	1.7
Renfrewshire	6083	6958	20.2%	23.0%	2.8
Scottish Borders	4132	4544	21.6%	23.9%	2.3
Shetland Islands	549	608	12.8%	14.4%	1.6
South Ayrshire	4167	4404	23.3%	25.0%	1.7
South Lanarkshire	12083	12799	22.0%	23.2%	1.2
Stirling	3168	3285	20.5%	21.3%	0.8
West Dunbartonshire	3861	4310	24.6%	27.4%	2.8
West Lothian	7632	8380	21.7%	23.7%	1.9

Child poverty, % of children below 60% median income, before (BHC) and after (AHC) housing costs, by Scottish local authority
	2018/19	2018/19
	BHC	AHC	percentage point difference
			between BHC and AHC
Aberdeen City	14.9%	21.5%	6.6
Aberdeenshire	10.4%	16.1%	5.7
Angus	17.6%	24.0%	6.4
Argyll and Bute	17.3%	23.4%	6.1
City of Edinburgh	12.6%	19.5%	6.9
Clackmannanshire	20.8%	26.8%	6.0
Dumfries and Galloway	20.6%	26.2%	5.6
Dundee City	21.4%	27.3%	5.9
East Ayrshire	22.9%	27.9%	5.0
East Dunbartonshire	10.4%	16.1%	5.7
East Lothian	15.8%	23.3%	7.5
East Renfrewshire	10.0%	15.2%	5.2
Falkirk	18.1%	24.5%	6.4
Fife	20.5%	26.3%	5.8
Glasgow City	28.0%	31.8%	3.8
Highland	16.7%	23.0%	6.3
Inverclyde	17.7%	23.8%	6.1
Midlothian	15.7%	23.2%	7.5
Moray	16.1%	22.4%	6.3
Na h-Eileanan Siar	13.4%	19.5%	6.1
North Ayrshire	23.4%	28.3%	4.9
North Lanarkshire	20.6%	26.2%	5.6
Orkney Islands	15.6%	21.9%	6.3
Perth and Kinross	15.7%	22.2%	6.5
Renfrewshire	16.9%	23.0%	6.1
Scottish Borders	17.6%	23.9%	6.3
Shetland Islands	9.3%	14.4%	5.1
South Ayrshire	19.2%	25.0%	5.8
South Lanarkshire	17.2%	23.2%	6.0
Stirling	14.9%	21.3%	6.4
West Dunbartonshire	21.9%	27.4%	5.5
West Lothian	17.1%	23.7%	6.6

Child poverty, % of children below 60% median income after housing costs (AHC), by Westminster constituency
Parliamentary constituency	Number	Percentage	Percentage point change (2015-19)
2014/15	2018/19	2014/15	2018/19
Aberdeen North	3334	4087	22.0%	26.5%	4.5
Aberdeen South	1925	2322	13.9%	16.0%	2.1
Airdrie and Shotts	4151	4410	25.5%	27.2%	1.7
Angus	3320	3649	22.9%	25.7%	2.8
Argyll and Bute	2809	3021	20.6%	23.2%	2.5
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock	3913	4212	26.2%	28.6%	2.5
Banff and Buchan	3246	3365	20.1%	20.8%	0.7
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk	3436	3886	22.4%	25.2%	2.8
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross	2385	2546	23.1%	25.6%	2.5
Central Ayrshire	3630	3959	24.7%	27.0%	2.3
Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill	4294	4548	24.0%	25.9%	1.8
Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East	3398	3745	21.3%	23.3%	2.0
Dumfries and Galloway	3753	4058	24.3%	26.8%	2.5
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale	3014	3310	21.2%	23.8%	2.6
Dundee East	3385	3607	21.5%	23.1%	1.7
Dundee West	3236	3801	24.6%	28.2%	3.6
Dunfermline and West Fife	3887	4342	21.1%	23.2%	2.1
East Dunbartonshire	2289	2292	16.2%	15.6%	-0.7
East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow	3242	3602	18.3%	20.3%	2.0
East Lothian	4172	5058	22.2%	26.2%	3.9
East Renfrewshire	3119	3326	17.2%	17.2%	0.0
Edinburgh East	2808	3088	21.6%	22.8%	1.2
Edinburgh North and Leith	2909	3116	19.0%	19.9%	0.9
Edinburgh South	2105	2180	14.7%	14.7%	0.0
Edinburgh South West	2884	3049	18.6%	19.2%	0.6
Edinburgh West	2432	2900	14.3%	15.8%	1.5
Na h-Eileanan an Iar	700	799	15.8%	18.4%	2.6
Falkirk	4274	4594	21.8%	23.8%	2.0
Glasgow Central	3859	5561	32.8%	41.3%	8.5
Glasgow East	4316	5313	27.1%	30.6%	3.5
Glasgow North	2473	2882	27.7%	31.2%	3.5
Glasgow North East	4150	4850	28.0%	33.4%	5.4
Glasgow North West	3672	4289	24.8%	29.0%	4.2
Glasgow South	3820	4350	26.4%	30.8%	4.4
Glasgow South West	4549	5298	28.0%	31.8%	3.9
Glenrothes	4390	4853	27.1%	29.8%	2.7
Gordon	2098	2550	11.5%	13.5%	2.0
Inverclyde	2818	2926	21.4%	23.2%	1.7
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey	3697	3912	20.4%	21.5%	1.1
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	4091	4624	24.3%	27.6%	3.3
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath	4706	5293	26.2%	29.2%	3.0
Lanark and Hamilton East	3673	3865	23.0%	23.8%	0.7
Linlithgow and East Falkirk	4885	5173	22.1%	22.5%	0.4
Livingston	4580	5152	21.2%	24.2%	3.1
Midlothian	3497	3843	21.4%	21.8%	0.4
Moray	3367	3552	20.4%	22.0%	1.6
Motherwell and Wishaw	4518	4821	26.2%	27.7%	1.5
North Ayrshire and Arran	3957	4237	24.8%	27.6%	2.8
North East Fife	2158	2402	18.9%	21.1%	2.3
Ochil and South Perthshire	3790	4031	21.2%	22.5%	1.3
Orkney and Shetland	1346	1470	17.3%	19.0%	1.7
Paisley and Renfrewshire North	2954	3421	18.7%	20.8%	2.0
Paisley and Renfrewshire South	2817	3380	19.8%	24.8%	5.0
Perth and North Perthshire	3438	3690	22.0%	23.8%	1.9
Ross, Skye and Lochaber	2399	2478	20.7%	22.3%	1.6
Rutherglen and Hamilton West	4491	4720	23.3%	24.4%	1.0
Stirling	3099	3202	20.0%	20.7%	0.7
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	1904	2139	10.2%	11.4%	1.2
West Dunbartonshire	3867	4305	24.7%	27.4%	2.7

About End Child Poverty

End Child Poverty is a coalition of organisations from civic society including children’s charities, child welfare organisations, social justice groups, faith groups, trade unions and others, united in our vision of a UK free of child poverty. For more details visit: www.endchildpoverty.org.uk    

End Child Poverty members in Scotland include Aberlour, Action for Children, Barnardo’s Scotland, Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, Children 1^st, Close the Gap, Engender, One Parent Families Scotland, Oxfam Scotland, Poverty Alliance, and Save the Children.

The 20 UK constituencies with the highest increases in AHC (after housing costs) child poverty 2014/15 -2018/19

Constituency	% of children below 60% median income AHC
2014/15	2018/19	%age point increase
UK	28%	30%	2%
Middlesbrough	31.2%	47.2%	16.0%
Newcastle upon Tyne Central	31.7%	45.2%	13.5%
Birmingham Hodge Hill	40.5%	53.8%	13.4%
Bradford West	34.9%	47.8%	12.9%
Birmingham Ladywood	41.8%	54.5%	12.7%
Birmingham Yardley	32.4%	44.7%	12.4%
South Shields	28.2%	39.3%	11.1%
Bradford East	36.4%	46.9%	10.5%
Newcastle upon Tyne East	27.1%	36.8%	9.7%
Bolton South East	37.1%	46.7%	9.6%
Sedgefield	23.5%	33.0%	9.5%
Hartlepool	27.6%	37.1%	9.5%
Oldham West and Royton	38.5%	48.0%	9.4%
Gateshead	26.0%	35.3%	9.3%
Blackburn	38.1%	47.3%	9.2%
Jarrow	23.5%	32.6%	9.1%
Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland	24.2%	33.2%	9.0%
Manchester Gorton	38.6%	47.6%	9.0%
North Durham	24.3%	33.3%	9.0%
Easington	25.8%	34.6%	8.8%

The 20 UK constituencies with the highest AHC compared to BHC (before housing costs) poverty rates, 2018/19

Constituency	% of children below 60% median income AHC
AHC	BHC	%age point difference
UK	30%	20%	10%
Bethnal Green and Bow	60.6%	30.1%	30.5%
Hackney South and Shoreditch	52.0%	23.9%	28.1%
Bermondsey and Old Southwark	50.3%	22.3%	28.0%
Holborn and St Pancras	47.9%	19.9%	28.0%
Vauxhall	49.7%	22.2%	27.5%
Poplar and Limehouse	52.4%	25.1%	27.3%
Islington South and Finsbury	46.2%	19.4%	26.8%
West Ham	52.5%	25.9%	26.6%
Walthamstow	50.8%	24.5%	26.3%
Tottenham	50.2%	24.0%	26.2%
East Ham	51.3%	25.5%	25.8%
Camberwell and Peckham	46.1%	21.1%	25.0%
Hackney North and Stoke Newington	44.6%	19.6%	25.0%
Greenwich and Woolwich	45.9%	21.0%	24.9%
Mitcham and Morden	48.5%	23.8%	24.7%
Leyton and Wanstead	46.0%	21.3%	24.7%
Lewisham West and Penge	45.9%	21.5%	24.4%