The latest Household Below Average Income figures show that in 2010/11, 2.3 million children or 18 per cent were living in households with an income less than 60 per cent of the national median, a fall of two per cent on the previous year.
The Child Poverty Act states that by 2020 this figure must be down to less than 10 per cent.
But Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society, warned that while progress has been made, this is likely to be reversed by the government’s programme of public service cuts and reduction in support for vulnerable families.
“The government admits that this is the lowest level of child poverty since the mid-1980s,” Reed said. “It is shameful that over the coming decade this progress is likely to be reversed by the government’s drastic cuts to support and services for the country’s most vulnerable children and families.
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