48% of children in BAME families are growing up in poverty as are 44% of children in lone-parent families.
The number of children living in poverty in the UK has soared by another 350,000 over the last year, taking the total number of children living in poverty in the country to 4.2 million.
Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, child poverty rates continue to soar as the Tories further entrench inequality and poverty.
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says that much of the rise in rates of child poverty was down to the government cutting the £20 universal credit (UC) uplift half-way through the year.
CPAG published a report yesterday which estimates child poverty costs the UK £39.5 billion a year – in lost tax and earnings, unemployment benefit and additional public services spending.
While the Tories continue to repeat the mantra of ‘work is the best route out of poverty’, the research shows that 71% of poor children lived in working families.
48% of children in BAME families are growing up in poverty as are 44% of children in lone-parent families.
Commenting on DWP’s child poverty statistics and CPAG’s own research on the economic costs of child poverty, Chief Executive of the charity Alison Garnham said: “Children pay the highest possible price for poverty – they pay with their health, their well-being and their life chances. Our research shows the country also pays a heavy financial price.
“Today’s DWP figures show that investing in social security is the way to remove children from poverty. Indeed, the Government did lift many kids from poverty with the £20 universal credit increase, but it plunged them back again with a subsequent cut.
“In the face of today’s grim figures, and with another rise in inflation, it’s inexcusable for Ministers to sit on their hands. The Government must extend free school meals, remove the benefit cap and two-child limit and increase child benefit. The human cost for the children in today’s figures is incalculable. The economic fallout for all of us is vast. But if the political will is there, child poverty can be fixed.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
(Picture credit: Richard McKeever-Creative Commons)
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