Charity warns of UK child poverty gap

A research by the Campaign to End Child Poverty has found that over half of children are living below the poverty line in some local authority areas, compared to the UK average of one in five.

The Campaign group, which put together a child poverty map, named Tower Hamlets in London as the the worst-affected borough, with 52% of children there living in poverty.

According to the charity’s annual report, London is one of the UK’s most deprived areas, with Islington, Hackney, Westminster and Camden all making the top 10 compilation of local authority areas suffering from the biggest proportions of child poverty.

The campaign’s executive director Alison Garnham said, “The child poverty map paints a stark picture of a socially segregated Britain where the life chances of millions of children are damaged by poverty and inequality.”

Slamming the coalition government for “targeting cuts on families”, she warned that the strategy would lead to an “economic and a social disaster”.

“Child poverty costs us billions picking up the pieces of damaged lives and unrealised potential, so it’s a false economy if we don’t prioritise looking after children today,” Garnham added.

The report used tax credit data and recent unemployment figures to examine the proportion of children living in low income homes. Children were classed as in poverty if their family’s income fell below 60% of the median average income.

Earlier this month, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned that a British couple with two children will be £1,250 a year worse off by 2015 due to the UK government’s tax and welfare reforms