New data collection shows 4 million children living in poverty in 2024-25
London has the highest rate of child poverty in England at 38%. Tower Hamlets local authority has 50.3% child poverty rate (the highest rate for any local authority in England) and Hackney local authority has 50.1 % child poverty rate.
5 out of 33 local authorities in London have a rate of child poverty over 40% (Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Newham, Brent, Enfield)
West Midlands and the North West have the second highest rates of child poverty at 32% followed by the North East at 30%
New way of recording child poverty by UK Government welcomed by campaigners
LONDON 26 March 2026 – UK Government data shows 4 million children are living in poverty in the UK amid price rise fears and difficult times ahead for the poorest families.
The statistics release by the Department for Work and Pensions shows London has the highest level of child poverty. West Midlands and the North West were second with 32%, followed by the North East at 30%. That’s an average of 8 in 30 children per classroom growing up in poverty across the UK.
Improved data collection methods by the UK Government have shown the overall poverty level to be lower than previously reported, however the overall trend is that child poverty rates have remained steady at around 4 million for the last two years.
Sophie Livingstone MBE, chair of the End Child Poverty coalition, said: “One child growing up in poverty is one child too many and the figures show the huge scale of the problem as families face renewed cost of living fears.
“Securing a true assessment of the scale of child poverty in the UK is essential and it’s something we have called on ministers to carry out for many years. We are pleased that more accurate data is now available. This is going to help ministers and community leaders tackle child poverty in the regions of the UK that need it most.
“Scrapping the two-child limit to benefits was a good start but there is still work for the UK Government to do and continued investment to be made to give children the best start in life.”
Local data compiled by analysing the government’s ‘households before average income’ data set was previously produced by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Coalition, but Whitehall took over producing the data this year for April 2024 – March 2025.
Improved data collection is needed to ensure government action on child poverty is targeted and effective.
Jade, 23, from Cornwall, who is an End Child Poverty coalition youth ambassador, said: “The levels of child poverty in the UK are deeply upsetting to see. For even one child to be growing up in poverty is difficult to accept in our country, but for 4 million to be facing this daily struggle cannot be described in any other way than abhorrent.
“Being part of that statistic myself while growing up meant I could not experience being a child like many of those around me. It meant skipping meals so I could afford the bus to school and worrying about things like bailiffs or rent at age ten. Yet possibly the most distressing was constantly seeing people like me being painted as the villain in popular programmes like “Benefits Street” which meant I was simply too embarrassed to reach out for any help.”
The impact of the UK Government scrapping the two-child limit to benefits has not yet been felt. That is predicted to reduce child poverty by 450,000 children by the end of this Parliament.
Dan Paskins, Executive Director of UK Impact at Save the Children, said: “The UK has lagged when it comes to helping children. It has had one of the largest increases in child poverty compared to countries of a similar sized economy in the past decade and an unacceptable number of children live in relative income poverty.
“What we’re seeing from the UK Government is a good first step to help children thrive by scrapping the two-child limit to benefits. This will have a positive impact on young people as they enter adulthood with better health outcomes, education attainment and future job prospects. Long-term though we need sustained action that drives down child poverty for good.”
Notes to editor:
Sophie Livingstone MBE is Chief Executive Officer at Little Village and Chair of the Baby Bank Alliance
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Child Poverty Action Group statistics explainer: The UK child poverty statistics for April 2024 to March 2025 are based on self-reported household incomes, as collected in previous years, but additional administrative information on what people have actually received has also been added. This change was made due to income from benefits being under-reported in the past. Addressing benefit under-reporting is sensible to capture more accurate household incomes.