Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of the child population in the UK is below the poverty line.

Low income statistics are the indicators most often used as a proxy for estimating poverty. However we recognise the need to understand the complex issues that some families face and to develop a new approach to tackling poverty and engrained disadvantage. Because the root causes are not financial, our approach goes beyond the safety net our welfare system provides.

Estimates for the percentage of children in low income are set out in the annual “Households Below Average Income” (HBAI) publication. Latest estimates for the United Kingdom (2015/16) show the percentage of children in relative low income on a Before Housing Costs basis was 20%