What causes child poverty?
In the UK, there are 3.8 million children living in poverty1. For some children, the risk of poverty is greater as a result of their circumstances:
- what increases the risk of poverty?
- 5 groups that are more at risk from poverty than others
- further reading.
What increases the risk of poverty?
View our graph of poverty risk by region. The graph demonstrates that by far the greatest risk of poverty is for those who live in a family where no one is in work.
However, other important factors include:
- ethnicity
- living in social housing
- being in a lone parent family.
Where you live can also affect your risk of living in poverty
As you can see from the graph, children in inner London have the highest risks of living in poverty. Other high risk areas include Wales, the West Midlands and the North.
5 groups that are more at risk from poverty than others
In the Barnardo's report It Doesn’t Happen Here, five groups were identified as being more at risk of suffering from poverty than others2:
- lone parents
- large families
- parents or children with disabilities
- black and minority ethnic groups
- working families
- Other vulnerable groups, including asylum seekers, workless households, young people living independently and children living in poor housing.
1. Lone Parents
Children in lone parent households, 46 per cent of children are living in poverty compared to 22 per cent* in two parent families. Much of this is due to high levels of worklessness and low out of work benefits: A lone parent with two children, one aged 14 and the other aged five, needs £254 to take them above the after housing costs poverty line. The amount of benefit that this family would get if the parent was out of work is £209, which is well below the poverty line3.
Additionally, some lone parents often feel isolated and lack confidence. They may also experience poor physical and mental health and be socially excluded. More needs to be done to help lone parents to overcome the psychological barriers that prevent them from getting back into work.
In 2009, while the employment rate for lone parents is improving, 42 per cent of those actively seeking work say the scarcity or cost of childcare prevents them from getting a job4. Whilst the provision of affordable childcare is improving, there is still a lot of work to be done to help support lone parents into getting back to work.
2. Large families
Within large families with three or more children, 36 per cent of children are at risk of being in poverty, in comparison 27 per cent of families with one or two children5.
The rate of worklessness in large families is higher than for parents in smaller families6. This is largely due to a lack of affordable childcare.
Large families can often struggle to meet the costs of school uniform and equipment. Large families are also at particular risk of going into debt7.
Of mothers with two children, 59 per cent are in employment compared with 14 per cent of mothers with 5 or more children who, if they do work, earn on average £1.30 an hour less than those with two children (£7.50 compared to £8.90)8.
3. Disabilities
Over a million children living in poverty are affected by disability. Having either an adult or a child with a disability in the family increases the chances of being in poverty. Within families with a disabled child and a disabled adult, there is a 39 per cent risk of being in poverty, compared to 27 per cent where no one in the family has a disability9.
The cost of living is considerably more for a family with disabled children. It has been calculated that it costs on average, an additional £99.15 a week to bring up a disabled child and that benefits are not enough to cover the extra costs10.
It costs three times as much to bring up a disabled child than a non-disabled child. Benefit increases have not met these extra costs11.
4. Black and minority ethnic groups
Within Black or Black British households,48 per cent of children are living in poverty. This rises to 63 per cent in Pakistani and Bangladeshi households compared with 27 per cent of White children12.
Worklessness is one of the key drivers for higher poverty rates for some ethnic minority groups. The UK overall employment rate, 70.5 per cent of working age adults, falls to 59.7 per cent when looking at working age adults from minority ethnic groups13.
Educational achievement is an important factor in poverty rates amongst ethnic minority groups. The achievement gap between white pupils and their Pakistani and African-Caribbean classmates has almost doubled since the late 1980s.
In work poverty rates are also higher - 54 per cent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi children in working households are in poverty in comparison to 12 per of White children14.
5. Working families
The Government's main strategy for tackling poverty is to increase employment rates. Despite this, more than half of all children (58 per cent) in poverty live in homes where at least one of the adults work. Families with children are 30-45% more likely to experience working poverty than those without. A large part of the problem is that many families are surviving on low pay in jobs where there is little chance of progressing. This means that low-paid workers tend to stay low-paid, which keeps them trapped in poverty.
Working households headed by younger people, those from ethnic minorities and those that include a disabled adult also face higher risks of poverty.
Nearly two thirds of families have struggled to find a job which pays enough for their family to live on. In addition, less than a fifth of low paid adults earned enough to lift their household out of poverty through their wages alone15.
Other vulnerable groups include:
Asylum seeking families: Asylum seeking families and their children are among the most disadvantaged groups in the country. The asylum and immigration law appear to be more concerned with children's immigration status than their needs as children. Asylum seeking families are not allowed to apply for permission to work for the first 12 months of their application. Not only does this force them to rely on state benefits but denies them the chance to integrate into their community and reduces the chances of them finding employment if they are given refugee status. Adult benefit payments are set at only 70 per cent of Income Support levels.
Workless households: The UK has the highest proportion of children whose parents do not work, compared to other European countries. Low out-of-work benefits mean that most of these children are poor.
Young people living independently: Young people aged over 16 who do not get family support are much more likely to be poor and as adults to remain dependent on benefits or low paid work. Young people receive less benefit and have a lower minimum wage than older adults. Young people receive less income support, are ineligible for tax credits, and are restricted to a lower level of housing benefit. Children leaving care are particularly vulnerable to poverty as young adults. At the age of 19, only 19 per cent of care leavers are in further education compared to 38 percent of all young people.
Children living in poor housing: There is a shortage of affordable housing due to high rents in the private sector and a lack of investment in maintaining a good standard of social housing. children who live in bad housing are more likely to suffer from poor health, and to suffer from disability or long term illness. Additionally, they are also more likely to dislike the area that they live in and to have run away from home. Children living in poor housing often have poor educational attainment. They are more likely to have been excluded from school and to leave school with no GCSEs.
1 Department for Work and Pensions. 2011. Households Below Average Income 2009/2010. Figures are after housing costs.
2 Barnardo's, 2007. It Doesn't Happen Here: The reality of child poverty in the UK
*Department for Work and Pensions. 2011. Households Below Average Income 2009/2010. Figures are after housing costs.
3 Barnardo's modelling of poverty lines and tax/benefit entitlements in 2010-11.
4 The Daycare Trust
5 Department for Work and Pensions. 2011. Households Below Average Income 2009/2010. Figures are after housing costs.
6 Willitts and Swales 2003 in barnardo's, 2007. It Doesn't Happen Here: The reality of child poverty in the UK
7 Barnardo's 2007. It Doesn’t Happen Here: The reality of child poverty in the UK
8 The Daycare Trust
9 Department for Work and Pensions. 2011. Households Below Average Income 2009/2010. Figures are after housing costs.
10 Barnardo's, 2007. It Doesn't Happen Here: The reality of child poverty in the UK
11 Lyon et al. 2006 in Barnardo's, 2007. It Doesn't Happen Here: The reality of child poverty in the UK
12 Department for Work and Pensions. 2011. Households Below Average Income 2009/2010. Figures are after housing costs
13 Department for Work and Pensions 2006b in Barnardo's, 2007. It Doesn't Happen Here: The reality of child poverty in the UK
14.Department for Work and Pensions 2007b in Barnardo's 2007. It Doesn't Happen Here: The reality of child poverty in the UK
15. Save the Children, 2006. Hard Times