Newcastle has highest level of child poverty in the North East.
A top health official in Newcastle has revealed the city now has the highest level of child poverty in the North East.
At a meeting last Thursday of Newcastle City Council’s health and social care scrutiny committee, a report described high levels of fuel poverty and high prevalence of conditions such as obesity and diabetes in the city.
Speaking at the meeting, interim director of public health Lorna Smith said: “We have just overtaken Middlesbrough as the worst area for child poverty. Behind every statistic there’s a person.
“Seventeen per cent of people live in fuel poverty, and that’s not just about having a cold home in winter. It’s not having hot water, not being able to wash your children’s hair with warm water, not being able to put the gas on and cook food.
“It can be a real challenge asking for help. The self stigma people feel is one of the biggest challenges we have.”
According to a report by End Child Poverty UK published last year, 42.4% of children in the Newcastle City Council area were below the 60% median income after housing costs in 2019/20 – the level at which they are deemed to live in poverty. This compared to Middlesbrough’s figure of 41% and was the highest in the North East, as well as the seventh highest in England.
The same report found that the North East as a region had the highest child poverty rate in the country at 38%.
The director of public health’s report described Newcastle as a place that could be perceived as a place with “beautiful homes in leafy streets” but that also housed “food insecurity, high levels of unemployment or welfare needs” as well as the continuing impact of “chronic illness, heavy drinking and drug-related deaths”.
Ms Smith added: “There’s so many assets to Newcastle. We shouldn’t be filling our hospitals and primary care with lots of preventable conditions.”
The report had a number of recommendations including using community engagement and public health analysis to help those most in need.