New child poverty report

9th June 2023

Every year the End Child Poverty Coalition, together with the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, publishes data on the number of children living in poverty across the UK.

This year’s data, which has just been published, reflects local indicators of child poverty after housing costs, 2021/2.

The report shows that more than 40% of children in Leicester are living in poverty – one of the highest rates in the country. The East Midlands as a whole has seen a sharp rise in child poverty, with the region having the second worst child poverty rates in the country. Leicester has seen one of the biggest increases in child poverty since the 2014/15 report, going from 30% to 41% of children living in poverty.

Susan McEniff, CEO of Charity Link, says:

“At Charity Link we see every day the impact that living in hardship has on local people and children and it is appalling that such a large proportion of our community is unable to afford the basics in life, such as adequate food, clothing and the means to keep warm.

The fact that more than 37,000 children are living in poverty in Leicester right now, will be shocking to many. It is a reflection on the huge difficulties that families are experiencing in making ends meet, including many working families. The reality is that this report doesn’t cover the period when inflation rises and the cost of living crisis really took hold, so these difficulties will have been exacerbated and we expect that next year’s figures will be even higher.  

Together with the help of our supporters, we make a tangible difference to people living in hardship and crisis, with a third of the people we help being children and young people. We will continue to work passionately to help improve lives in need, but, as the report highlights, the issue is huge and will take significant change on many levels to address. However, few could argue that this isn’t vital if we want our children to grow up healthy, happy, with dignity, and not being held back from reaching their full potential due to circumstance.” 

Read the report here

Read coverage in the Leicester Mercury here