Too often financial deprivation blights families' lives and blunts children's expectations for the future. Children growing up in poverty miss out; they are less likely to stay on at school, more likely to suffer from health problems and more likely to become involved in crime.
Poverty in the UK
- The poverty line in the UK is defined as a household income below 60% of the average. This threshold is currently around £195 a week for a lone parent with two children. Using this definition there are over 3 million children living in poverty.
- Shockingly almost half of these children (1.4 million) live in families with a household income far below this – an average of £124 per week for one adult and two children.
- At least half of the children living in poverty have a parent who works, showing that low paid work is just as likely to cause financial hardship as reliance on benefits.
Families living in very low-income households are often unable to afford basic necessities, or give their children the same opportunities that others take for granted.