A million children under four “growing up in poverty”, report warns
By Rachel Lawler
A million children aged under four-years-old are now living in poverty in the UK, according to new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
The charity’s annual poverty report reveals that a total of 3.9 million children in the UK are living in poverty, including 1 million aged under four-years-old, even with additional support.
Children in poverty
The report also shows that one in six children are living in “persistent poverty” – that means they have spent at least three of the last four years in poverty. For children under the age of four, that is almost their whole lifetime.
Families in poverty
Accord to the report, almost 40% of lone-parent families are now said to be living in poverty.
Ethnic minority families are also more likely to experience poverty, with households headed by someone of Pakistani or Black ethnicity twice as likely to be in poverty than households headed by somebody white. Around half of households headed by someone of Bangladeshi ethnicity are living in poverty.
£20 Universal Credit uplift
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation highlighted how the £20 uplift in Universal Credit introduced during the pandemic took some families out of poverty, but since this has been removed families are struggling with the cost of basic essentials such as food, hygiene and warmth.
Peter Matejic, chief analyst at the charity, said: “The £20 uplift was the right political choice which clearly made a huge difference during the pandemic and may have prevented what were tremendously difficult years becoming a complete disaster for families around the UK.
“The relief provided by this measure, taken away just as the cost of living crisis hit, also demonstrated that the standard rates of social security are fundamentally not fit for purpose, with millions now going without essentials such as food, heating and cleanliness.
“These problems can be solved, but it takes the political will and imagination to tackle multiple injustices at once - and all of us need a government and an economy that works for us when times are hard.”