Child poverty

About 3 in 10 of all children in the UK are growing up in low-income households. In some areas, more than half of children are growing up without the money they need to thrive.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can cut child poverty if we want to, and stop children from suffering. Families need direct financial support. They need a social security system they can rely on, not one that punishes them.

Poverty is a lack of money that leaves families struggling to:

• Afford the essentials.
• Enjoy a decent standard of living.
• Share the simple family experiences that all children should get to enjoy.

Every child deserves a safe and happy childhood, full of hope for the future. Growing up in poverty can make this difficult because it affects:

• Family life: Their parents may have to work several jobs, or late nights, to try and make ends meet. Their family can't afford to go on holiday. Crowded housing means they might not have space to play, or peace and quiet when they need it. The pressure of financial problems can cause frustration and arguments.
• Food: They might not have much choice of food. They might miss out on important food like protein and fresh vegetables, because these are more expensive. When things get bad, they might need to rely on a foodbank. Sometimes, their parents may skip meals.
• School life: School should be an equal playing field. But not having enough money leaves children feeling left out. They can miss exciting trips, or not be able to join a sports team. If they don't have the right uniform, like an expensive branded blazer, they may be told off, or even taken out of lessons. If space is tight at home, they might struggle to get their homework done.
• Education: All this can lead to a child falling behind. Poverty often holds a child back from achieving their full potential. Whether that's learning to read in their early years, or getting top grades at GCSE. This makes it harder to get the jobs or further education they want.
• Mental health: Their parents try to protect them from money stresses, but children still pick up on the worry. They wish they could help. They worry about the future and about all the things they might miss out on because they can't afford them. This anxiety can leave them feeling alone, cut off from their friends. It can also take away their confidence and affect their self-esteem.

Not every child and family will have the same experience of poverty. But across the UK, too many are facing its cruel realities. That’s why we're campaigning for a fairer social security system which keeps families safe, rather than pushing them into poverty.

Our frontline staff have told us that child poverty levels are at the worst they can remember. We urgently need the government to:

1. Increase the child element of Universal Credit by £15 a week.
Benefit levels are just too low. They often aren't enough to keep the fridge full, or the bailiffs at bay. Investment in Universal Credit is vital to ensure parents can at least meet their children's basic needs.

2. Remove the cruel benefit cap.
The cap sets the maximum amount of benefits a household can receive. In practice, it overwhelmingly affects families with children and predominantly single parent households (69%), who are more likely to face barriers to work. The main effect of the cap is to push families into deeper poverty and trap them there, while saving very little money for the taxpayer and building up even more costly problems for the future.

3. End the unfair two-child limit.
This is a harmful rule which denies an additional child payment in Universal Credit - worth at least £3,235 a year, to a third or subsequent children. Introduced in 2017, it now affects 1.5 million children. By depriving children of much needed income to meet their basic needs, it is one of the biggest drivers of rising child poverty. Scrapping it would lift 250,000 children out of poverty overnight.

4. Tackle barriers to work and opportunity.
71% of children in poverty are in working families. But low wages, insecure jobs and the high cost of childcare means that work doesn't always pay. And for single parents, disabled parents, or parents who are carers, there are many barriers to getting into and staying in work.

We help decision-makers think about and act on the needs of children and young people. We publish reports looking at how living on a low income is affecting families with children in the UK. We also produce policy recommendations laying out what steps the government can take to tackle poverty and improve outcomes for children.

Recent policy reports:

• All worked out? The limits of work as a route out of poverty and hardship
• Families in financial crisis: Insights from our Crisis Fund
• Published reports
• A cost of children crisis?
• Breaking through the barriers