Divide More than half of children in one city ward are living in poverty

MORE than half of children are living in poverty in Bristol's most deprived neighbourhood.

- Estel FARELL ROIG

Across Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire area, a total of 31,654 children aged 0 to 15 were living in poverty in the year ending March 2024 the last full year under the Conservative government according to the latest figures from the DWP.

That's up from 30,387 a year earlier and works out as two out of every 11 children (18%) in the area.

However, the situation is much more desperate for children in some parts of Bristol than others.

In the Lawrence Hill area of the city, more than half (54%) of children were living in poverty, a total of 2,414 kids. In the Central district of Bristol, some 49% of children were living below the breadline.

Meanwhile, in Hartcliffe and Withywood 39% of children were living in poverty, in Filwood the ratio was 37%, and in Weston-super-Mare South in North Somerset it was 36%.

By contrast, just 3% of children in the Bristol neighbourhoods of Redland, Westbury-on-Trym and Henleaze were living in poverty last year, the lowest proportion of any ward in our county.

Across the UK, a total of 4.5 million children were living in poverty in the year ending March 2024 according to the latest figures from the DWP. That's a record high, and an extra 121,000 children compared to a year earlier.