Three million children in poverty despite record employment
Hundreds of thousands of children live in poverty because their parents have to spend so much on their housing costs.
Friday 29 March 2019 10:22, UK
Nearly three million children are living in poverty despite growing numbers of people in work.
Figures taken from the Department for Work and Pensions and analysed by the National Housing Federation show there are 847,000 children in working households who are living in poverty because of the cost of housing.
There are more than 2.9m children living in poverty in total.
More than two million of these children live in poverty before their parents pay housing costs.
According to the NHF, this is a 40% rise from the year 2010/11 until 2017/18, accounting for children who are in poverty after their parents pay either rent or mortgage.
The figures come despite another drop in unemployment figures.
The UK's employment rate is now at an all-time high of 76.1%, with 473,000 more people in work in January compared to a year ago.
A Government spokesperson said: "Tackling poverty will always be a priority for this government, and we take these numbers extremely seriously.
"Employment is at a record high, wages are outstripping inflation and income inequality and absolute poverty are lower than in 2010. But we know some families need more support, which is why we continue to spend £95bn a year on working-age benefits.
"We are looking at what more can be done to help the most vulnerable and improve their life chances."
The NHF says that from 2010 to 2017, the government stopped funding new social housing, which the charity says has made it harder for low income families to get to get on the housing ladder and afford rent or mortgage payments.
Their research shows 90,000 social homes need to be built in England a year to meet demand, but fewer than 7,000 were built last year.
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: "Year after year hundreds of thousands of more hard working families are falling into poverty - forced to choose between feeding and clothing their children or providing a roof over their heads.
"We are now seeing the full effects of low pay, benefit cuts and the housing crisis.
"The lack of affordable homes is exacerbating in-work poverty.
"There could not be a clearer signal to the government that the country desperately needs more social housing - direct investment in the upcoming spending review is the only way to provide truly affordable homes for these families. This is more crucial than ever in the midst of Brexit uncertainty."