New figures from the End Child Poverty Coalition and Loughborough University show 3.6 million UK children were living in poverty in 2020-21, a total of 27%.
Wales and England’s North East have seen the largest increases, with the North East up by seven percentage points since 2010-11 and now having the highest child poverty rate in the UK. However, London boroughs still dominate the areas with the worst rates. For example, more than half of the children in Tower Hamlets live in poverty.
While the figures are down by 200,000 on the previous year, the Coalition says this is likely due to the £20 uplift to Universal Credit provided during the pandemic, which has now been removed.
Joseph Howes, chair of the Coalition, said: ‘It still feels like we are on the edge of a precipice. There is significant concern that the numbers of children in poverty will now rise again sharply with families facing huge cost increases.’
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