Child poverty has risen fastest in parts of the Midlands and Northern towns and cities in the past four years, new research has revealed.

The research, by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty coalition, shows that the highest rates of child poverty are in London boroughs and parts of Birmingham. More than half the children in these areas are living below the poverty line once housing costs have been taken into account.

However, Middlesbrough and parts of Tyneside have seen child poverty rates increase by over 10 percentage points since 2014/15, the research found.

Anna Feuchtwang, chair of End Child Poverty, said: ‘The Government can be in no doubt about the challenge it faces if it is serious about ‘levelling up’ disadvantaged parts of the country. This new data reveals the true extent of the hardship experienced by families on low incomes – the overwhelming majority of which were working households before the pandemic.

’The children affected are on a cliff edge, and the pandemic will only sweep them further into danger.’

The coalition is calling for an urgent Government plan to end child poverty by ending the benefit cap and two-child limit on benefits, the uprating of housing assistance in line with inflation, retaining the £20 uplift in Universal Credit, and extending the eligibility of free school meals.?

Photo: OCcontent / Shutterstock.com