Child poverty rates increased by 44% since 2010

The crisis of poverty in the UK has been exposed by two new reports, revealing the devastating impact of low wages and price increases on 900,000 children.

The research by Trades Union Congress (TUC) has found that over the past 14 years, an additional 1,350 children per week in households with at least one working parent have fallen into poverty. The TUC report highlighted the toxic combination of wage stagnation, insecure work, and cuts to social security as the main factors driving child poverty.

The Analysis shows that the number of kids growing up in poverty in working households increased by 44% (+900,000) between 2010 and 2023 with the TUC saying that a toxic combination of pay stagnation, rising insecure work and cuts to social security have had a “devastating impact on family budgets.

Child poverty in working households has increased by over 1,300 a week, on average, since 2010.

The TUC says in 2023 there were 3 million kids in working households living below the breadline in the UK. Children growing up in poverty in working households now account for 69% of all children in poverty and 24% of all children in working households.

Real wages are still worth less today than in 2008 and the union body estimates that had they grown at their pre-crisis trend since the Tories took power the average worker would be over £14,000 a year better off.

Separate analysis from the TUC shows that the number of people in insecure work, low-paid work has increased by nearly 1 million during the Conservatives’ time in office to a record 4.1 million.

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 in rise in working families being pushed into poverty. A toxic combination of pay stagnation, rising insecure work and cuts to social security have had a devastating impact on family budgets.

“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.”