'Our future depends on tackling child poverty'

KEY ISSUE: Eliminating child poverty will generate more savings than costs says Charlotte Atkins.

- Charlotte Atkins - Labour councillor for Leek, Cabinet Member for Services at Staffordshire Moorlands District Council

KEY ISSUE: Eliminating child poverty will generate more savings than costs says Charlotte Atkins.

THE United Kingdom is one of the richest countries in the world yet child poverty is appallingly high.

We have been used to seeing emaciated children in the Third World on our screens. But if we look at what is happening in the UK, it is shocking.

Child poverty has reached a record high in the UK as the cost of living continues to increase and our social security safety net is insufficient to meet needs.

About one-third of Britain's children - about 4.5 million - now live in relative poverty, measured as living in a household that earns below 60% of the national median income after housing costs.

The figures for parts of Stoke-on-Trent are even higher, reaching 42% in central Stoke and 40% in the north of the city.

One million of these children are destitute, going without their most basic needs - staying warm, dry, clothed and fed according to a 2023 study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Child poverty matters because of the negative consequences for children's life chances including their brain and educational development. It determines how they will fare as adults.