Significantly more children are growing up in poverty now than 40 years ago, says the National Children's Bureau in a new report. The report compares data on different aspects of children’s lives in the UK today with the experiences of children aged 11 in 1969, which were captured in Born to Fail, a National Child Development Study published in 1973.
Many families find their finances stretched to breaking point over the school holidays, according to findings of a survey carried out on behalf of the Salvation Army charity.
YouGov sampled 4,263 adults online during the period 7-12 August 2013.
Key findings
Meeting the minimum needs of a child up to age 18 now costs around £148,000 – equivalent to around £160 a week – according to an updated analysis published by the Child Poverty Action Group. The figure has risen by 4 per cent between 2012 and 2013.
The calculation is based on the 'minimum income standard' – the income needed in order to reach a minimum socially acceptable standard of living, based primarily on popular consensus. It is averaged for a child across all ages, and includes childcare costs and housing.
Low-income children are disadvantaged across the full spectrum of later developmental outcomes, a study by Bristol University has found.
The paper explores the relationship between family income and six child developmental outcomes in mid-childhood, spanning cognitive, emotional, behaviour and health domains.
As many as nine per cent of children in London, or the equivalent of 74,000 children, may be suffering from inadequate food intake. That's one of the key findings of research conducted by Ipsos MORI for the Greater London Authority. The study involved interviews with over 500 parents and 500 children, at all income levels and across London, designed to understand the impact that hunger has on their lives.
The total financial cost to society of child poverty has risen from £25 billion a year in 2008 to £29 billion in 2013, says an updated analysis for the Child Poverty Action Group. The analysis takes into account a range of factors such as extra spending on services and lost tax receipts.
The new analysis accompanies a report examining the impact of the coalition's welfare reforms on local authorities – including the costs to local areas of child poverty – and exploring how they and partner organizations are coping with the impact of the reforms.
Children from economically deprived families are more likely to be socially excluded as adults, finds a study from the Centre for Longitudinal Studies.
The study involved analysing data from more than 7,000 members of the 1970 British Cohort Study, and tracking six risk factors: poor physical and mental health; lack of emotional support from friends and family, and of trust in others; little or no interest or engagement in politics; having a low income, debts, or not having savings; limited access to good-quality public services; and being unemployed.
The concept of 'intergenerational poverty' is of doubtful validity and lacks an evidence base, according to a review by the National Foundation for Educational Research.
The researchers conducted a wide-ranging review of UK and international studies, focusing on how children and young people can be helped to escape poverty and deprivation.
Over half a million more children will have been forced into poverty by 2015 as a result of the coalition government's public spending cuts and tax and benefit changes, according to a report from the official children's rights watchdog for England.
The report is based on an analysis, by Landman Economics, that uses microsimulation models to assess the likely impact on children living in different kinds of families – the first time, the watchdog says, this kind of analysis has been undertaken.
In all the talk of tackling child poverty, one group has been largely ignored, children of refugees and asylum seekers. Stephen Crossley reports on poverty amongst this 'minority within a minority' and the role local agencies should play.