What is child poverty?
A family with two adults and two children needs to have £352 each week in order to be above the poverty line. How do you think that compares to what your family has?
- £13 a day – the reality of living in poverty
- How does living in poverty compare with the average UK family?
- What effects can child poverty have?
- How does Barnardo's help?
£13 a day – the reality of living in poverty
Many families living on a low income have only about £13 per day per person.
This needs to cover:
- all of their day to day expenditure, including necessities such as food and transport
- occasional items such as new shoes and clothes, school trips and activities for children, and replacing broken household items such as washing machines and kitchen equipment
- all household bills such as electricity, gas and water, telephone bills, and TV licences.
Find out:
How does living in poverty compare with the average UK family?
View our graph, which shows how much an average family spends each week on different items, compared to a family living in the bottom 20 per cent of the income distribution.
The total weekly expenditure for:
- an average couple with children in 2008 was £673 per week for all households, that’s equivalent to £176 per person
- a family with an income in the lowest 20 per cent spent just £360 each week, equivalent to £90 per person.
That’s almost half what the average family spends.
From the graph, you can see that there are big differences in really crucial items of spending such as health, education and transport.
What effects can child poverty have?
Living in a poor family can reduce children's expectations of their own lives and lead to a cycle where poverty is repeated from generation to generation.
As adults they are more likely to suffer ill-health, be unemployed or homeless, and become involved in offending, drug and alcohol abuse, and abusive relationships.
In tackling poverty it is crucial to break the cycle. Education is a key element of this, as are initiatives which involve people in developing their skills and finding their own solutions to the problems in their community.
How does Barnardo's help?
Barnardo's works across the UK to transform the lives of vulnerable children.
Read stories and case studies of how we have helped children and families living in poverty >>
Find out more about Barnardo's child poverty research and publications or search Barnardo's full publications database.