A neighbourhood in Leeds has some of the highest levels of child poverty in England, new analysis has revealed.
The government has published official rankings of childhood poverty across the country. The figures rank individual neighbourhoods - small areas with a population of around 1,500 people each - based on how many children aged 0 to 15 are living in income deprived families.
They include children in families on income support, jobseeker’s allowance, employment and support allowance, pension credit, certain types of universal credit, and some other benefits.
A neighbourhood in the Cross Green area of Leeds emerges as the 30th most deprived out of any of the 32,844 neighbourhoods in England.
An estimated 265 of the 472 children in the area are living in poverty.
The figures also show that Leeds as a whole has significant levels of childhood poverty.
Neighbourhoods that fall into the top 10 per cent of the country for child poverty can be defined as being particularly affected.
Some 20 per cent of neighbourhoods in the city fall into this category.
The area with the next-highest levels of child poverty in Leeds is a neighbourhood in the Moorside area, ranking in 134th place nationally, affecting an estimated 205 children.
It’s followed by another neighbourhood in the Seacroft area in 170th place (1800 children), and a neighbourhood in the Bramley area in 235th place (190 children).
In total, there are estimated to be more than 14,700 children in Leeds aged 0-15 who are in the top 10 per cent of the country when it comes to income deprivation.
The figures come from the Index of Multiple Deprivation - the official measure of relative deprivation in England.
It is a broad definition of deprivation involving 29 separate indicators across seven categories.
As well as income deprivation - also known as poverty - it looks at employment, education, health, crime, barriers to housing and services, and living conditions.
Just because an area sees high levels of childhood poverty doesn’t mean it is necessarily deprived in other ways.
For example, the neighbourhood in the Cross Green area that ranks at number 30 for child poverty comes in at 161th place for overall deprivation.
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