Income poverty is greatest determinant of UK child poverty, says Unicef

Its report into child inequality in 24 developed countries found that income poverty has the greatest impact on child inequality in the UK.

This is leaving the UK lagging behind other European countries such as France and Germany in improving the lives of the most disadvantaged children.

This latest report is released the same day as the government's poverty tsar Frank Field released his report into tackling poverty. This instead called for government policy to focus on investment in early years education.

Unicef UK executive director David Bull said: "Tackling income poverty should remain the number-one priority for government to reduce child inequality in the UK. At a time of austerity we must not widen this gap.

"One of the most disturbing aspects of changed economic times is that full-time employment no longer guarantees a life lived above the poverty line."

Called Report Card Nine: Children Left Behind, the report measures how far children in poverty have fallen behind in terms of health, education and material wealth.

Overall, the UK was ranked in the bottom two-fifths of countries, alongside Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Other recommendations are for the government to set "ambitious" interim targets in next year's child poverty strategy and apply a fairness test to changes to benefits and education.

The universal credit the government plans to bring in as part of reforms to the benefit system must ensure that no family lives on less than a living wage, Unicef added.