Data released on child poverty rate

Maidenhead: Fall in overall numbers but many families still struggling

The number of children in poverty has dropped in Maidenhead’s most deprived areas – at a time when UK child poverty has increased.

The ‘relative child poverty rate’ is calculated yearly and counts the number of children living in poverty relative to the average household income.

In the UK this is 20.1 per cent, according to 2021/22 data published in April this year.

On the whole, Maidenhead’s level of child poverty is much lower – 8.7 per cent (1,885 children), compared to 15.1 per cent in the South East.

But in some parts of Maidenhead, the figure is as much as six percentage points higher than the UK average.

In parts of Belmont, the child poverty rate is 26.6 per cent, making it the most impoverished ward in Windsor and Maidenhead.

However, this still represents a significant improvement from the previous year (2020/21) where 31.3 per cent of children were in poverty in the same area.

Other wards above the average include Riverside around North Town (23.6 per cent) and Pinkneys Green around the St Marks area (20.2).

North Town, which had been at 27.4 per cent during 2020/21, remains in the top five most deprived areas of Maidenhead for children – but nonetheless saw a four-percentage-point improvement.

Parts of Furze Platt have taken a steep drop below the average level – from 27.4 per cent down to 19.5.

Areas in Boyn Hill/Oldfield have also dropped – from 22 per cent to 19.8.

It is important to note that the UK average has taken a significant jump upwards – up from

18.7 per cent to in the latest data set, more than two percentage points.

By comparison, the overall rate of child poverty has remained quite stable in Maidenhead between the two years, with a slight decrease – coming down by 0.6 percentage points.

However, this does mean that the worst afflicted part of Maidenhead is 2.5 times worse off than the constituency average.

These figures measure ‘relative’ poverty, which covers households with income below 60 per cent of the middle household income.

‘Absolute’ poverty covers households with income below 60 per cent of the middle income in 2010/11. This is used to look at how living standards are changing over time.

The absolute poverty level is about 20.3 per cent in parts of Belmont and 19.4 per cent around North Town – compared to just 6.4 per cent in Maidenhead as a whole.

In Windsor, Dedworth is the least well off, with a child poverty rate of 23.3 per cent.

In the neighbouring Slough, the rate is 23.1 per cent for relative poverty – with the worst afflicted area reaching 45 per cent – and

16.8 per cent for absolute poverty.

Despite the data, Debbie Gee of Maidenhead Foodshare said that plenty of families in the town are struggling – especially given national movements that happened after this data was collected.

“Things are much worse now. People are really finding it difficult,” she said.

“The price rises of food are just astronomical.”

The food bank anticipates a big challenge during the school holidays, when families will have to source more food for hungry mouths throughout the day.

“Families are saying they don’t know how they’re going to feed their children during that time,” said Debbie.

In response, Foodshare is ramping up the amount of extra food it will have on offer for struggling families during the upcoming school holiday.