- One in six children lives in poverty, UK statistics show, By Angela Harrison, June 13, 2013, BBC News: “At least one out of every six children in the UK lives in relative poverty, according to data released by the Department for Work and Pensions. In 2011-12, 2.3 million UK children (17%) lived in homes with substantially lower than average income. This rises to 27% (3.5 million) if measured after housing costs are paid. Children’s campaigners say the true figure is higher and that 300,000 more children live in poor homes than in the previous year. This is because there are two accepted ways of measuring poverty – relative and absolute…”
- Poverty rose by 900,000 in coalition’s first year, By Patrick Butler, June 13, 2013, The Guardian: “An additional 900,000 people were plunged into poverty during the first year of the coalition government, including 300,000 more children, according to official figures. Charities pointed out that the entire increase in children counted as in poverty in 2011-12 came from working households. Children living below the poverty line were now twice as likely to come from working families than those without employment. The situation is likely to get worse, say charities, because the statistics covered the period before a range of austerity measures and welfare cuts – including the bedroom tax and the abolition of council tax benefit – were introduced…”
Tag: United Kingdom
Child Poverty in the UK
- One in four UK children will be living in poverty by 2020, says thinktank, By Randeep Ramesh, May 7, 2013, The Guardian: “One in four children in Britain – 3.4 million – will be in relative poverty by 2020, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned. In a report, conducted for the Northern Ireland executive but held to describe the position in the UK as a whole, the IFS says ‘tax and benefit reforms introduced since April 2010 can account for almost all of the increases in child poverty projected over the next few years’…”
- 1.1m children forecast to fall back into poverty – wiping out a decade of gains, By John Bingham, May 7, 2013, The Telegraph: “The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) revised its previous estimates to forecast that 3.4 million British children will be living in households classed as in poverty by the end of a decade dominated by recession. The new projection, contained in an analysis commissioned by the devolved Northern Ireland Executive, means that the number of children in poverty is set to increase by 1.1 million this decade, instead of 800,000 as previously thought. It would take the UK back to the child poverty levels last seen at the turn of the century when the then Prime Minister Tony Blair announced a plan to ‘eradicate’ it…”
Food Bank Use in the UK
Number of people turning to food banks triples in a year, By Patrick Butler, April 23, 2013, The Guardian: “More than 350,000 people turned to food banks for help last year, almost triple the number who received food aid in the previous year and 100,000 more than anticipated, according to the UK’s biggest food crisis charity. The Trussell Trust said the dramatic increase in the use of its food banks was set to continue in the coming months as poorer families struggle financially as a result of the government’s welfare reforms…”