The North East has 50,000 more children who are living in poverty today than there were in 2015 - with two-thirds having parents who are working.
The new figures compiled by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Campaign estimate that almost 190,000 children in the region were living below the poverty line in 2021/22 after housing costs were taken into account. That figure amounts to 35% of the region’s young people, with the rise in child poverty here being the steepest in the UK since local data was first produced in 2014/15.
The region’s rate of child poverty actually fell slightly during the latest period, most likely due to the £20 uplift in Universal Credit during the pandemic that was later cancelled. But the figures cover a period before the cost-of-living crisis and there are fears that the rate of child poverty could now be even higher.
Read more: North East devolution deal 'not ideal' - but opportunity not to be missed
Among the findings in the report, more than two-thirds (67%) of North East children who are living in poverty are from households where at least one parent has a job, while there are high levels of poverty for lone parent families (46%) and families with a disabled child (37.4%). Of the North East’s 29 parliamentary constituencies, 21 have more than one in three children living below the poverty line, with the highest rates being in Middlesbrough (48.7%), Newcastle Central (43.0%), South Shields (39.7%), Gateshead (38.9%) and Redcar (38.4%).
The report says: “We have shown that in-work poverty is a substantial problem for children across the UK, with 71% of children living below the poverty line being in a family where at least one adult is working. This emphasises that employment is in many cases not a simple route out of poverty, and that low pay and insecure work remain major issues for many families who are unable to meet their living costs.
“Moreover, this is exacerbated for children in families that experience multiple risk factors for poverty. Children with two or more siblings are casualties of the ‘two-child limit’ that restricts benefits for third and higher-order births; our findings emphasise that this policy is pushing many children into poverty, and that many families affected are already in work and therefore have little recourse to increase their income.”
Today’s report is the latest to highlight the problem of child poverty in the North East. Last month, Newcastle Central MP Chi Onwurah used Prime Minister’s Questions to criticise the Government’s record on young people, while Save the Children and Health Equity North are among the organisations that have also highlighted the scale of the problem.
Anna Turley, chair of the North East Child Poverty Commission, said: “It’s simply unacceptable that tens of thousands more children have been pulled into poverty across our region since 2015 – and these new figures don’t even account for the hardship being felt today by growing numbers of North East families as a result of the cost of living crisis, which is hitting those already on low incomes the very hardest.
“The findings of this report are all the more shocking, because we know that poverty is not an unsolvable problem – including for children here in the North East, which should be the best place to grow up and raise a family. In what remains one of the wealthiest countries in the world, it is absolutely within our gift to fix this and doing so should be the aim of any Government. But this has to start with political determination, a joined-up plan which recognises the scale of the challenge we face, and the right long-term investment in children and families.”
Leigh Elliott, chief executive of the charity Children North East, added: “Every child in every part of the North East deserves to have the best possible start in life, but this research confirms just how many more young lives across our region have been held back by poverty – and all the barriers it can bring – over much of the last decade.
“We know from our work with children and families in schools and communities across the North East how tough life has been for many years. But those longer-term challenges are now being exacerbated by the soaring cost of household essentials, which means even more young people unable to participate fully in school, enjoy the experiences that should be part of every childhood and fulfil their potential.”
READ NEXT:
