'Under the Conservatives we have seen a huge rise in working families being pushed into poverty'
New analysis has revealed the devastating rise of child poverty in working families in Britain under the Conservative government.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) found that between 2010 and 2023, the number of children growing up in poverty in working households has increased by a staggering 44 per cent.
This is on average an increase of over 1,300 a week and refers to households with at least one parent in work. Children growing up in poverty in working households now account for 69% of all children in poverty, while making up for nearly a quarter of all children in working families.
In 2023, there were 3 million kids in working households living below the breadline in the UK, the TUC found.
The union body said a “toxic combination” of pay stagnation, rising insecure work and cuts to social security were having a “devastating impact” on family budgets. It has urged the next government to make reducing child poverty a national priority.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “No child in Britain should be growing up below the breadline.
“But under the Conservatives we have seen a huge rise in working families being pushed into poverty.
“We urgently need an economic reset and a government that will make work pay. Reducing child poverty must be a priority in the years ahead.”
It comes as research from the Resolution Foundation found a prolonged pay depression has left average earnings just £16 a week higher than they were in 2010, meaning Britons have experienced an unprecedented 14-year squeeze on wages.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward
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