For every £1 we spend, 85p helps children and families
4.3 million
children in the UK live in poverty*.
That's 30%
of children living in poverty.
That’s unthinkable. A level of poverty that should be confined to history.
And child poverty is rising. The figure has risen by 700,000 in the past 10 years, with the cost-of-living crisis making children even more vulnerable. Our frontline services supporting families tell us they have never seen poverty like this.
*Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions, 2023.
Thanks to amazing people like you, we can be there for thousands of vulnerable children in the UK. Your donation could help our frontline service staff reach the children that need us the most, from putting food in the fridge to preventing neglect, abuse and homelessness.
765,905
Children & families helped last year
426
Services in communities across the UK
150 years
We've been helping children since 1869
Learn why we are one of the best children’s charities to donate to in the UK:
Our Crisis Fund pays for essentials like food, clothes and heating bills in times of crisis. We’ve distributed £2 million in emergency grants since 2020 to 15,000 families. We also campaign for an end to child poverty. We speak directly to MPs and ministers and call on them to act.
Neglect is a form of child abuse – it affects one in 10 children in the UK.
We have more than 400 services in local communities across the UK, including 100+ children centres and support services to help families prevent and reverse child neglect and abuse.
Every 15 minutes, a child goes into care in the UK.
Every year we help hundreds of children across the UK find a foster family, or join one of our small, family-style children's homes. We also help them transition out of care and we campaign to make the system better.
Over 8,000 disabled children enjoyed one of our short breaks in 2023.
We support disabled children and young carers through our children's centres, short breaks programmes and dedicated support from our incredible frontline staff.
In 2023, about 1 in 5 of those aged 8 to 25 years had a probable mental disorder
We put children's mental health at the heart of everything we do. The Blues Programme, our mental health programme for schools which gets teenagers talking, helps them build resilience and reduce anxious thoughts.
In 2024 we commissioned a review to end children being criminally exploited.
We also support young people to access learning and jobs, we help criminally exploited children and young offenders turn their lives around, we campaign for them, and we step in to help stop young people becoming homeless.
And our award-winning Parent Talk service gives guidance on topics from baby’s routines and play to self-harm and depression. Parents can browse articles, or chat to a parenting coach for individual advice and emotional support - all for free.
More about our children's charity
What is Action for Children
We are a leading UK Children's charity. We’ve been helping children for more than 150 years. Today, we run 426 services in local communities across the UK, in schools and online.
We protect and support children and young people. We do this by providing practical and emotional care and support. We make sure their voices are heard. And we campaign to bring lasting improvements to their lives.
We take action in three ways.
Intervention. Anyone can get trapped in poverty, abuse or violence. When we spot problems, we take action early. We step in to help children, young people and families before things get worse.
Prevention. We give young people the support they need to grow up safe and happy. Projects like The Blues Programme teach important life skills and help to build resilience. It’s simple and it works.
Advocacy. Children don’t have a say in many things that affect their lives. We listen to what they want. We take their concerns to the government. And we campaign for better support and resources.
What we’ve achieved
- 765,905: the number of children, young people and families we helped in 2022/23.
- 34,000: the number of children in poverty we've helped with our crisis fund. We’ve distributed £2 million in emergency grants since 2020 to 15,000 families.
- 42,000: the number of children and young people in, or with experience of, the care system we supported in 2022/23.
- 88,689: the number of people reached with mental health support in 2023/24.
- 539,842: the number of people reached by our online parenting advice service, Parent Talk, in 2022/23.
- 2,000,000: the number of children and young people we've helped since 1869.
All this is only possible thanks to the support of people like you.
Where your money goes
85p of every £1* we spend goes directly towards helping children, young people and their families.
We make sure that every penny you donate goes where it will have the greatest impact on children’s lives. Your donations help us to run these essential services, which give vulnerable children and families a vital lifeline.
Most of the donations we receive from our campaigns are unrestricted. This means they’re not spent on one project or one specific area of the UK, but where the need is greatest. We wouldn’t be able to operate as a charity without this type of income. Unrestricted funds help us reach the children and young people who need us most. Funds raised from this appeal will be unrestricted and used by Action for Children for its general charitable purposes.
* Figure based on audited 2022/23 charity accounts that exclude subsidiary companies like commercial nurseries
Would you consider joining us as a regular donor?
Donating a small amount every month by direct debit helps us give vulnerable children the stability they need. Our regular supporters help us carry out long-term work and keep vital projects running. Your small monthly donation could make a very big difference to a child who needs our help, and we would make sure to keep you up to date on how you're donation is changing lives.
For every £1 we spend, 85p helps children and families
Other ways to donate
Other ways to help
Where are the figures from?
The official poverty figures are updated annually each March, based on the ‘Households Below Average Income’ dataset (HBAI) published by the Department for Work and Pensions. Figures are presented for the previous year, meaning there is a 12-month lag between the period the figures refer to and when they are published.
Child poverty headline figures for 2022/23
- 4.3 million children are in poverty (relative, after housing costs). That’s 30% of all children – an increase of 100,000 children or 1 percentage point since 2021/22.
- Food insecurity has increased particularly dramatically, rising by 47% in one year – with 2.4 million children living in ‘food insecure’ households.
- 800,000 children were in households that had used a food bank in the last 12 months (5.7% of all children – unchanged from 2021/22).
- 44% of children in single-parent families are in poverty, compared to 26% in couple families.
- 69% of the children in poverty are in working families (at least one adult in work).
- 50% of the children in poverty are in larger families (3+ children).
Children are the most at risk of poverty
30% of children are in poverty, compared to 20% of working-age adults and 16% of pensioners.
Child poverty fell significantly during the 1990s and early 2000s but has been rising since 2013/14. Child poverty levels fell back during the first year of the pandemic, largely because the temporary increase to Universal Credit helped to push up the average incomes of low-income families. The withdrawal of that support, and the subsequent income shock caused by the cost of living crisis, means child poverty is rising again.
