Poverty: Children
(asked on 20th February 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children were living in poverty in working families in each year since 2010.
National statistics on the number of children, in a family with at least one adult in work, in relative low income can be calculated from figures published in the annual "Households Below Average Income" publication.
Year | Number of children living in relative low income before housing costs in a family with at least one adult in work |
2009/10 | 1.4m |
2010/11 | 1.4m |
2011/12 | 1.5m |
2012/13 | 1.5m |
2013/14 | 1.5m |
2014/15 | 1.7m |
2015/16 | 1.8m |
The increase is partly driven by more families being in employment. The number of children in a family with at least one adult in work has increased by 800,000 since 2009/10. The chances of a child being in relative low income (before housing costs) when living in a family with at least one adult in work was 15% in 2015/16, which is the same as before the financial crisis (e.g. 2007/08).
This publication also shows that the chances of a child being in relative low income are diminished when work is the norm. The figures show that children in households where all adults work are five times less likely to be in relative low income before housing costs than children in workless households.