One quarter of kids are living in poverty

Almost a quarter of children in Rutherglen and Cambuslang are living in poverty.

Figures released by the End Child Poverty Coalition estimate 5,170 children, 23.3 per cent, in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West constituency are living below the breadline.

The shock figures were included in a poverty map of Britain created by the coalition as it called on the UK Government to do more to help struggling families.

It has demanded the chancellor end the freeze on children’s benefits – currently in place until the end of the decade – so that families are more able to cope with the rising costs of basic household essentials.

Sam Royston, chairman of End Child Poverty and director of policy and research at the Children’s Society, said: “No family in modern Britain should be struggling to put food on the table, heat their homes and clothe their children.

“It is scandalous that a child born in some parts of the UK now has a greater chance of growing up in poverty, than being in a family above the breadline.

“There can be little doubt that the government’s policy of maintaining the benefits freeze despite rising prices is a major contributor to the emerging child poverty crisis.”

A child is said to live in poverty if they are in a family living on less than 60 per cent of median household income. According to the latest official statistics 60 per cent of median income after housing costs was around £248 per week.

The poverty line increases according to the number of people in the household to £347 per week for a couple with two children for example.

The number of children living in poverty in Glasgow South is even greater, with 30.6 per cent living in households struggling financially.

Taking in Castlemilk and King’s Park, the constituency has 5,093 children living in poverty.

Across Glasgow 37,554 children are living in poverty, one in three of all Glasgow’s children.