A rise in child poverty across Harrogate and Craven
Charity Save the Children has released some worrying figures.
New figures released today reveal that a third of children in Yorkshire and the Humber are growing up in poverty, once housing costs are taken into account.
The research carried out by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Coalition shows that Yorkshire and the Humber has seen child poverty rates increase over the past five years, fuelled by stagnating family incomes.
Overall child poverty rates in Yorkshire and the Humber have risen by almost a fifth - from 28% to 33% - over the last five years.
Every local authority in the region reported increases in child poverty rates, after housing costs are taken into account.
Across the Craven district, child poverty rates in 2019/20 stood at 24.9% - a rise of 3.4% on 2014/15.
In the Harrogate borough, rates have increased by 2.5% - with 20.1% of children growing up in poverty.
Elsewhere, the new data also reveals the Yorkshire and the Humber constituencies with greatest numbers of children living in poverty are Bradford West (47%) and Bradford East (47%), closely followed by Leeds East (44%), Leeds Central (43%) and Sheffield, Brightside and Hillsborough (43%).
Imran Hussain, director of policy and campaigns at Action for Children, said: “These deeply worrying figures reveal the true extent of the hardship facing families across Yorkshire and the Humber – even before the pandemic hit. With child poverty rates rising, children in the region are among those most exposed to the devastating economic consequences of the pandemic.
“Our frontline workers tell us that poverty levels are at the worst they’ve ever seen, as they deliver vital support to families in the region desperately trying to keep their kids clothed and well-fed.
“We are desperately concerned this generation of children have had their childhoods and life chances damaged and disrupted by poverty and the pandemic. If the government truly wants to level up parts of the country hardest hit by poverty, they must scrap their plans to cut Universal Credit later this year and give families a fighting chance at recovery.”
The coalition is calling on the UK Government to recognise the scale of the problem and its impact on children’s lives and to create a credible plan to end child poverty which must include a commitment to increase child benefits. Given the extent to which families are already struggling, the planned £20 p/w cut to Universal Credit come October should also be revoked, with the support extended to those on the ‘legacy’ benefits system.
The Government uses a different measure of child poverty and said between 2009/10 and 2019/20 absolute child poverty (after housing) fell from 28% (3.7million) to 25% (3.5million).
A spokesman said: "Latest figures show that the number of children in absolute poverty has fallen by 300,000 since 2010.
"We are committed to supporting families most in need, spending billions more on welfare and planning a long-term route out of poverty by protecting jobs through furlough and helping people find new work through our Plan for Jobs.
"We also introduced our £269 million Covid Local Support Grant to help children and families stay warm and well-fed throughout the pandemic."