[UK] One in five households in poverty

from The BBC

More than one in five households in Wales are living below the poverty line according to UK Government figures.

The Department for Work and Pensions figures show 21% of Welsh homes brought in less than the poverty benchmark of 60% of the UK average income.

The figures showed poverty levels in Wales are falling, with figures now converging with the UK average.

About 28% of children in Wales are living in poverty - also in line with the UK average.

Missed target

Tony Blair pledged in 1999 to eradicate child poverty by 2020 and to have cut the number of children in poverty UK-wide from 4.1m to 3.1m by April 2005.

But the Department for Work and Pension figures, released on Thursday, show that although the number of children in poverty has fallen by 700,000 since 1999, the UK Government has missed the target by 300,000.

The government said progress had been made, but opposition parties said the figures were disappointing.

A family is considered to be poor if it is living on less than 60% of the UK's average household income, once housing costs are taken into account.

In Wales, where poverty levels have previously run higher than the UK average, the new figures showed they had converged with those of the UK as a whole.

The figures, which were taken as a three-year average between 2002 and 2005, showed that 28% of children in Wales were living in households in poverty.

However, the level was equal to the UK average and lower than the child poverty rates for several English regions including London, the North East and the West Midlands.

Wales also has a below-average rate of pensioners living in poverty at 18% compared with 20% for the UK as a whole.

Malcolm King, a councillor in Wrexham's Caia Park estate who also manages a project for disadvantaged youngsters, said that although poverty was still apparent, there has been improvements.

'Challenging target'

He added: "I've worked in the area for 27 years and its all to depressingly familiar a story.

"As one of the richest countries in the world, it's unacceptable to have any child poverty.

"On the other hand I'm pleased with the government that for the first time I can ever remember it has set a target to get rid of it.

"I'd much rather have a challenging target than one which isn't stretching anybody."