UK poverty report from Save The Children

Save The Children UK has released a new study that finds that the numbers of children living in poverty has been rising since 2004. This result is similar to a study from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation issued a few months ago.

During the years of economic growth in the UK an additional 260,000 children moved below the poverty line. Save the Children says that their research suggests that child poverty levels have stayed the same during the recession.

From this press release found at the Save The Children UK website, we read this summary of the report's conclusions. The full report is available to download.

According to the research, commissioned from the New Policy Institute, an additional 260,000 children were pushed into severe poverty during the four years of a UK economic boom, between 2004 and 2008. Our research indicates that this number is likely to have stayed the same over the last two years, as the recession has wiped out any progress that government action may have achieved.

This means that 13% of the UK’s children now live in severe.

The recession is likely to have increased severe poverty by a further 100,000 children but rises in tax credits and benefits are expected to have bought the numbers back down to pre-recession figures. But as unemployment continues to climb, there is a real danger that the number of children living in severe poverty could still rise even higher.

England accounts for the biggest increase in severe poverty, with more than 1.5 million children now living in families that earn 50% below the average UK income and missing out on daily essentials such as enough food and clothes. London is home to around one fifth of all children in severe poverty in the UK — over 300,000 children — the biggest proportion of any UK city.