Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the number of children in relative low-income households increased between 2014-15 and 2015-16.
Latest Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data on low income rates for children showed an increase of 1 percentage point between 2014/15 and 2015/16 on a relative basis (for both before and after housing costs), whereas it was unchanged on an absolute basis.
These estimates are from sample survey data and subject to statistical uncertainty. The increases in relative low income were not statistically significant, which means we cannot say with high confidence the change is a real one, rather than due to having a different sample for this year of the survey. As such, focus should be more on longer-term trends rather than small year-on-year changes.
Full explanations of the trends in low income rates are available in HBAI:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-199495-to-201516