The number of children living in poverty has increased by 200,000 to a record high of 4.5 million, government figures have revealed.
The figures show that after housing costs the proportion of the UK’s 14.5m children who are living in low-income households has increased from 30% in the 12 months to the end of March 2023 to 31% over the same period in 2024.
This has seen the number of children living in poverty rise from 4.3m to 4.5m, the highest level since comparable data has been available.
The figures also show an increase in child poverty rates among working households, where at least one adult is in employment. This rate has increased from 69% in 2023 to 72% last year.
Action for Children’s head of policy and research Julia Pitman said the figures are “shocking”, particularly as benefit reform announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves this week is set to push thousands more children into poverty.
The Department for Work and Pension’s impact assessment of the reform to benefit estimates 50,000 more children will be in relative poverty by 2030 because of the changes.
“This is shameful from a country as wealthy as the UK,” said Pitman, who is calling on the government to ensure it “gets its upcoming child poverty strategy right”.
Action for Children is among campaigners calling on ministers to include a scrapping of the two-child limit and the benefit cap to help lift children out of poverty.
This is the “quickest and most cost-effective way the government can reverse this heart-breaking trend”, she added.
National Children’s Bureau (NCB) said the rise in child poverty is “a shameful reminder of what happens when government leaves gaping holes in the social safety net”.
It wants to see the forthcoming child poverty strategy include “significant investment in social security and legally binding targets to tackle and eventually eradicate child poverty”.
"Every child deserves access to the best opportunities in life, but today's figures show millions are left out. We need bold, ambitious and urgent action from the government to reverse this trend,” NCB added.
National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede is also concerned about the child poverty rise and said its members “see the reality of these numbers” in school.
“We have support staff washing pupils’ clothes, teachers feeding pupils from their own pockets, school leaders undertaking social work,” he said.
“This is not sustainable and should not be necessary in such a wealthy country.”
