Children hit by poverty

POVERTY is on the rise in the East Midlands, with children the hardest hit.

New government data showed 21 per cent of people in the region were living in relative poverty between 2014/15 and 2016/17 after housing costs are taken into account.

That’s up from the 20 per cent seen in the three years between 2011/12 and 2013/14, and the number affected grew to 1m - an increase of 100,000 people.

The hardest hit by poverty in the East Midlands are children, with almost three in 10 living in relative poverty after housing costs are taken into account (29 per cent).

That’s up from just 24 per cent between 2011/12 and 2013/14, and means around 200,000 children in the region are living in poverty in total.

By comparison, 20 per cent of working age adults are living in poverty after housing costs - a slight decrease from the 21 per cent seen in 2011-12 to 2013-14.

It still means 500,000 people aged 16 to 64 in the East Midlands are living in relative poverty.

Meanwhile, pensioners are generally less likely to be living in poverty, with 14 per cent in this situation after housing costs between 2014/15 and 2016/17.

That’s still an increase from 12 per cent from the three years previously, and means 100,000 pensioners in the region are affected.

The hardest hit by poverty are children, with almost a fifth living in relative poverty before housing costs are taken into account (19 per cent).

After the cost of housing, that proportion rises to nearly one in every three children (30 per cent) - around 4.1m children in total.