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Child Poverty Map of Britain - 16th of Mar, 2011

Child Poverty Map of the UK report published by Campaign to End Child Poverty

The Campaign to End Child Poverty has today published the first instalment of a two part report providing a child poverty map of the UK. Today’s publication provides local authority and constituency information for England.

The End Child Poverty website will from today also provide local child poverty data down to ward level in England.

Note that the official data used for the local analysis will only be available for other parts of the UK later in the year, following which a further instalment of the report will be published which will include the rest of the UK and updated data for England.

The top 10 parliamentary constituencies for child poverty in England are:

The top 10 local authorities for child poverty in England are:

Alison Garnham, Executive Director of the Campaign, said:

"David Cameron pledged to make British poverty history and we now have a local map of the child poverty rate in each area at the time he took office and his work towards this goal began."

"The child poverty map shows a country divided between children born into very different lives, some fortunate, some with much poorer life chances. It reveals that we still have much higher rates of child poverty than in most other wealthy European countries, reaching 57% of children in one London constituency and more than 60% in some wards."

"The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister have our full support for the promise they made in the coalition agreement to end child poverty by 2020. The difficult economic circumstances we face mean it is more important than ever to end Britain’s child poverty shame."

In the next two weeks the Chancellor and the Prime Minster will reveal Britain’s Budget and publish the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy. They will need to address warnings from the Institute for Fiscal Studies that both relative and absolute child poverty will start rising from 2013 onwards under current plans. Alison Garnham added:

"The Campaign to End Child Poverty is calling for the Chancellor to explain in the budget how child poverty will be reduced and how parents can access jobs they can raise a family on."

"We need to protect jobs and work incentives for the good of both the economy and Britain’s families struggling to stay afloat. The Chancellor must tackle the jobs deficit and look again at unfair cuts to tax credits, child benefit and childcare support that will mean entering a job and staying in work is harder and less likely to make families better off."

"Parts of Britain are booming again, with bankers getting billions in bonuses, yet we’re in danger of having a two-speed economy that leaves millions of families behind. Child poverty costs us billions picking up the pieces of damaged lives and unrealised potential, so it’s a false economy if we don’t prioritise looking after children today. The values we cherish and the long-term economic security we need will both be damaged if families facing hardship are left hung out to dry."

Notes to editors:

(1) Alison Garnham is the Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group and Executive Director for the End Child Poverty Coalition and will be available for comment along with the Campaign Coodinator, Tim Nichols. The lead researcher, Donald Hirsch, will also be available for comment.

(2) Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on predictions for child and working-age poverty from 2010 to 2013 can be found here: http://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/5372

(3) Case study guidance: Member organisations of the Campaign to End Child Poverty can sometimes support in the provision of case studies, but it is highly dependent on their current project work and whether families themselves are happy to put themselves forward. A list of End Child Poverty member organisations can be found on the website: www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/who-are-we/members. It is often small local charities giving on-the-ground support in a particular community who have the most direct contact with families, so we recommend trying to find out what local charities may be operating in the area you are interested in. In general we encourage journalists in their use of case studies to show sensitivity towards parents who wish to protect their children from the stigma of being labelled as in ‘poverty’ and associated risks such as bullying.

(4) Ward level data sheets for English regions can be provided in advance during the embargo period on request.

(5) The Campaign is calling for the Chancellor to use the budget to:

• Support jobs you can raise a family on by redressing damage to work incentives from cuts to tax credits and childcare support.
• Prioritise and target areas with high child poverty and low employment vacancies for job creation programmes and economic regeneration.
• Ensure it is clear how budget initiatives will have a measurable impact reducing child poverty, and as part of a robust strategy in accordance with the Child Poverty Act

(6) The End Child Poverty campaign is made up of more than 150 organisations from civic society including children’s charities, child welfare organisations, social justice groups, faith groups, trade unions and others, united in our vision of a UK free of child poverty. For a full list of members, visit www.endchildpoverty.org.uk

We campaign to achieve our vision by:

• Ensuring the voices of families facing economic disadvantage are heard;
• Increasing understanding of the causes and impacts of child poverty and mobilising public support and action;
• Promoting to politicians and government the case for ending child poverty by 2020, the actions that will achieve it and holding them to account on the requirements of the Child Poverty Act.

Contact

Tim Nichols (020 7812 5216 or 07812 5216)

tnichols@cpag.org.uk