More children live in poverty now than 50 years ago, NCB reveals

The children’s charity’s Greater Expectations report compared the lives of today’s 11-year-olds with historical data.

It found that 3.5 million were living in poverty now, compared to two million in 1969.

The charity also found that there had been no significant change in the gap between rich and poor children when it came to health or educational outcomes.

When it came to educational results, the charity found no indication that the gap between affluent and poor children had narrowed in the past 50 years.

However, the proportion of children attending early years settings had risen significantly and fewer children live in overcrowded housing today than in the 1960s.

The report also compared the experience of British children with those in other industrial nations on measures such as education, health and child poverty.

It concluded that if the UK matched the very best of these nations on every measure, nearly one million children would not be in poverty and 44,700 fewer 11-year-olds would be obese.

Dr Hilary Emery, chief executive of the National Children’s Bureau, said: “Our analysis shows that, despite some improvements, the inequality and disadvantage suffered by poorer children 50 years ago still persists today.

“There is a real risk that as a nation we are sleep walking into a world where children grow up in a state of social apartheid, with poor children destined to experience hardship and disadvantage just by accident of birth, and their more affluent peers unaware of their existence.”

The charity wants the government to appoint a team to develop and implement a cross-government strategy to reduce inequality among children and young people.

It also says that the Office for Budget Responsibility should publish details of the impact every Budget will have on child poverty.

Finally, it says that Parliament and charities should create a set of annual indicators that could be used to assess the performance of the government and would provide the basis of “a shared vision of what we want to achieve for all our children”.