New figures reveal that 24% of children across the East Midlands were living in poverty in the last year, with national poverty charity, Turn2us, launching a new campaign to ask how many more?
According to new research carried out by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Coalition, one in four children are now in poverty after housing costs in the East Midlands.
Soaring living costs, stagnating incomes from work and benefits and high housing costs continue to push many families to the brink of financial crisis across the region. The biggest constituency increases have been seen in Leicester East (3.1%), Leicester South (2%) and Leicester West (1.9%).
Turn2us, a member of the End Child Poverty Coalition, also reveals through its own research that nationally, around half (49%) of their users with children (compared to 47% without) surveyed reported having no money to live on every week after covering essential costs [including weekly housing costs, utilities and Council Tax]. While seven in ten (71%) Turn2us users who were single parents reported that they plan to use the recently announced cost of living measures to repay debt.
The End Child Poverty Coalition is calling on the UK government to continue to find ways of making social security more adequate in the long term so that every family can afford the essentials:
- For those on universal credit, deductions should be reduced and the benefit cap abolished.
- Improve access to free or affordable childcare.
- Ensure Free School Meals in England and Wales are extended to all children in families receiving Universal Credit.
Sara Willcocks, Head of External Affairs at Turn2us, said: “In a nation as wealthy as ours, it is completely unacceptable that children continue to live in poverty. As we have seen from our own research, and that of the End Child Poverty Coalition, the cost-of-living crisis is squeezing the incomes of families across the country.
“With one in four children in the East Midlands, and 3.6 million nationally, living in poverty, we’re asking how many more children need to bear the brunt of soaring living costs, and household wages that do not reflect inflation? The government must act now, by increasing benefits and ensuring families on low incomes can easily access free school meals and to ensure every child in the UK is given the best start in life.”
The End Child Poverty Coalition results cover a period from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 at which point families were in receipt of the £20 Universal Credit uplift, which experts say is the main reason why the numbers across the UK slightly declining in this period. The child poverty stats for the East Midlands have decreased -1% since 2015.