CHILDREN IN PERSISTENT POVERTY

Coronavirus will likely cause child poverty to soar

ONE in five children in the UK lives in persistent poverty - and charities warn the situation will only worsen due to coronavirus.

New government figures have revealed between 2014/15 and 2017/18, 12% of children were living in a family with an income persistently below the poverty line - even before housing costs.

That’s defined as a family having a household income of less than 60% of the UK average for at least three of those four years.

Once the cost of housing is taken into account, the proportion of children living in this situation rises to one in every five (20%).

Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action group Alison Garnham said: “As a nation we believe that every child should have a good start in life, but these are shocking figures.

“Sadly these figures are likely to rise as a result of Covid-19.

“The Government has brought in some strong measures to mitigate the financial impact of the pandemic but it must go further if we are to avert an oncoming child poverty crisis.

“The priority should be a £10 weekly increase in child benefit which would get much-needed money to families through existing infrastructure, reducing child poverty by about five percentage points.

“Investing in children is not only a moral responsibility - it’s also the best investment we can make for our future.”

In particular, children with single parents are more than twice as likely to be living in persistent poverty.

After housing costs, 36% of children in a lone parent family are living in persistent poverty, compared to 16% of children whose parents are living together as a couple.

Victoria Benson, Gingerbread CEO: “The wide-ranging impacts of Covid-19 have already had a disproportionate effect on single parent families and many are struggling as a result.

“70% of single parents are working but many are in lower paid jobs or rely on income from insecure work such as zero-hour contracts, this has meant that in many cases their income has simply stopped, in addition, schools are closed and children are at home which means household costs have risen.”

In-work poverty is also becoming much more common.

The proportion of children experiencing persistent poverty while living in a family with no working adults has increased only slightly from 56% between 2010/11 and 2013/14 to 57% between 2014/15 and 2017/18.

But for children in families with at least one adult in work, but not all, the proportion living in persistent poverty has risen from 23% to 34%, while for those with all adults in work, it rose from 6% to 7%.

A spokesperson for End Child Poverty said: “Child poverty has been rising steadily since 2010 as cuts to the benefits system, under austerity, have reduced family income.

“These figures from Government show the extent to which we have been failing children in poverty even before the outbreak of coronavirus. We have not all entered this crisis equally.

“Children in poverty will be among the worst affected by the crisis as households see their income hit further perhaps through loss of employment and the increased costs of staying home – such as food, fuel bills and supporting home schooling.

“Families will have to find money for meals they would have had at school and without the benefits their better off peers may have - of outside space, a comfortable home or access to the internet or devices - they will face greater challenges to maintaining their physical, mental health and keeping pace with homeschooling.”