Here are some facts:-
4.3 million children, or nearly one in three, were living in poverty in 2019/2020, according to the latest available data. Charities say the nationwide figure will be higher now.
– The child poverty rate was 31% in 2019/2020, up from 27% in 2013/14.
– 75% of children growing up in poverty live in families where at least one person works.
– 46% of children from Black and minority ethnic groups live in poverty compared with 26% of children in white British families.
– 49% of children in lone-parent families are in poverty, in part due to higher childcare costs and lower earnings potential.
– Children in larger families are twice as likely to be poor as those from smaller families.
– 1.8 million children were growing up in very deep poverty even before the pandemic stuck
– A million households – including 550,000 children – were estimated to have been destitute in 2019, up 35% since 2017.
– The cost of raising a child to the age of 18 is about £160,700 for a couple and £193,800 for a lone parent – up more than 3% since last year, says the Child Poverty Action Group.
– Britain has one of the world’s most expensive childcare systems, with the average bill rising by 4%-5% in 2021.
– More than 1.74 million children in England were eligible for free school meals in January 2021, up 17.3% on January 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
– Children from lower-income families are developmentally a year behind better-off children when they start school.