Poverty 2024
What do we know and where do we start?
A new report by the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) reveals that poverty in the UK has reached its highest levels in the 21st century.
Over a third of children (36%) and a quarter of adults are now living in poverty, amounting to 16 million people, or 24% of the population—the highest rate since records began in 2000.
The cost-of-living crisis has driven 2 million more people into severe hardship since 2019, with children experiencing the sharpest increase. An additional 260,000 children have fallen into poverty since the Covid pandemic, bringing the total to 5.2 million.
While poverty statistics provide a useful framework for understanding inequality, they are inherently complex and multifaceted.
Given the complexity of poverty research and the frequent requests I receive to help others make sense of it, I felt it worthwhile to provide this concise summary in my Substack.
Health warning on data
I love research, and my inner researcher thrives on untangling complex patterns and making sense of intricate data. But when it comes to the harrowing realities of poverty, the complexity goes beyond intellectual curiosity.
Poverty isn’t just about numbers.
It’s about lives, struggles, and systemic barriers. It is important to read data alongside the ‘lived reality’ of millions of people that face the day-to-day harsh reality of hardship and inequity.
Other problems also mean we need to caveat poverty data with a health warning….
Defining disadvantage
A major issue is how poverty is defined and measured. Each approach offers insight but comes with limitations:
Relative poverty: This measures income below 60% of the national median. However, it fluctuates with economic growth and often fails to capture rising living standards.
Absolute poverty: Fixed income threshold (usually based on the 2010/11 median, adjusted for inflation) provides consistency but overlooks the evolving nature of poverty in a rapidly changing economy.
Multidimensional poverty: Focusing solely on income ignores other critical aspects of deprivation, such as access to education, healthcare, housing, and community resources.
Challenges with collection
Poverty data itself can be fraught with limitations, which complicates accuracy:
Underreporting: Vulnerable groups (e.g. refugees, homeless) are sometimes excluded from data-sets due to logistical or legal/ethical barriers.
Sampling and bias: Surveys with small or non-representative samples can lead to incomplete or misleading conclusions.
‘Hidden realities’
Many people experience poverty in ways that don’t always fit snugly into official or documented definitions. For example:
In-work poverty: Increasingly, many in employment face poverty due to inadequate wages, precarious contracts or insufficient benefits.
Regional disparities: Fixed income thresholds fail to reflect local differences in living costs, obscuring the full picture of financial struggles. This is where the work of organisations such as the North East Child Poverty Commission are vital.
Best before end
Official poverty statistics often lag behind real-time events. For instance, the economic fallout of COVID-19 and inflation surges can take years to show up in official reports. This delay can sometimes hinder effective policymaking and timely interventions. It can also mask the ‘live’ day-to-day reality for millions.
Understanding poverty requires more than just examining spreadsheets or official data; it requires compassion but it also demands context.
For each report, you’ll find links and a brief summary of headline data. I’d urge you to read the reports in full to understand the data with compassion and context.
Government measures
UK Governments rely on two main metrics to assess poverty. Here’s those definitions again and how they are used:
Relative low income: Households earning less than 60% of the median income, adjusted annually. This captures economic inequality but fluctuates with broader economic trends.
Absolute low income: Households earning less than 60% of the 2010/11 median income, adjusted for inflation. This offers a static benchmark but can miss evolving living standards.
(Source: DWP; 2024)
More information on this available here and data analysis available here
Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our strategy
What: Policy Paper
Who: Government/cabinet office
Where: Access it here
When: Published, 23 October 2024
The Cabinet Office have produced a helpful policy briefing paper as part of the government plans to address the growing issue of child poverty in the UK. The paper is useful for setting out some of the policy and initiatives that the government aim to implement in tackling poverty. It also sets out some broad themes that are a starting point for those wanting to understand the trends of poverty data in the UK.
Historical context
Child poverty surged during the 1980s, driven by economic restructuring and limited social safety nets, peaking at over one-third of all children by the mid-1990s. Reforms during the late 1990s and early 2000s, including increased investment in early education, tax credits, and welfare support, led to a significant reduction, with an estimated 2.2 million fewer children in poverty by 2010.
Post-2010 reversal
Since 2010, austerity measures, welfare reforms (e.g., Universal Credit rollout, benefit caps), and economic stagnation have reversed much of this progress. By 2022/23:
4.3 million children (30%) live in poverty—a rise of 700,000 since 2010/11.
3 million children face material deprivation, with limited access to essentials such as adequate clothing or heating.
800,000 children rely on food banks for survival.
Demographic trends in child poverty
Working families: 69% of children in poverty come from households where at least one adult is employed. This reflects the inadequacy of wages to meet rising costs of living (it also helps to tackle damaging myths such as “they just need more aspiration” or “we need to get them back to work!”)
Large families: Nearly 50% of children in poverty belong to families with three or more children, exacerbated by policies such as the two-child limit on benefits.
Disability: Families with at least one member with a disability are at higher risk due to additional care-related expenses.
Ethnicity: Black and Asian children face disproportionately high poverty rates, reflecting structural inequalities in employment, housing, and access to resources.
Housing costs: Families in private rentals experience significant financial strain due to rising rents and limited access to affordable housing.
Local indicators of child poverty after housing costs, 2022/23: estimates of child poverty after housing costs
What: 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, in each Westminster Constituency and Local Authority across the UK.
Who: End Child Poverty Coalition & Loughborough University
Where: Access it here
When: Published, June 2024
The End Child Poverty Coalition, using Loughborough University data, provides stark insights into the depth of child poverty:
National figures: 30% of children (4.3 million) live in poverty, up from 3.6 million a decade ago.
Disparities: Poverty is especially severe among ethnic minorities, single-parent families, and households with multiple children.
Regional trends: Areas in the North East, West Midlands, and Wales have poverty rates exceeding 25%, reflecting regional economic disparities.
This research analysis is also helpful for highlighting how the two-child limit on benefits plays a significant role in increasing child poverty rates, particularly in larger families, and underscores the need for targeted policy reform.
Child Poverty Action Group have also made their position clear on the hardship consolidated by policies such as the two-child limit, they have provided a range of resources to help others understand and address this.
UK Poverty 2024
What: UK Poverty uses a range of data sources and insights to build up a comprehensive picture of the current state of poverty across the UK. This is produced annually by JRF and is an excellent resource.
Who: Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Where: Access it here
When: Published, 23 January 2024
The report highlights:
Nationwide trends: 14.4 million people live in poverty, including 4.2 million children.
Deep poverty: 6 million individuals live far below the poverty line, often unable to afford basic needs such as food, heating, or shelter.
Impact of cost-of-living crisis
Rising inflation and energy costs have disproportionately affected low-income households.
72% of these families report going without essentials, while over 40% are in arrears on rent or bills.
Regional analysis
The West Midlands and North East have the highest poverty rates, while Northern Ireland has the lowest at 16%.
Urban centres face acute housing affordability crises, compounding financial pressures on vulnerable families.
For those that appreciate a visual representation, the report contains various graphs and overviews of data which are extremely useful.
An evidence-based plan for addressing poverty with and through schools
What: This report, the second in a year-long series produced by Child of the North and the Centre for Young Lives, focuses on leveraging schools and nurseries as key players in reducing child poverty, particularly in areas with the highest levels of deprivation
Who: Child of the North, N8 Research partnership, Centre for Young Lives et al
Where: Access it here
When: Published, 23 January 2024
Over four million children in the UK live in poverty, with one million in the North of England.
Persistent disadvantage leaves children, on average, 22 months behind their peers by the time they finish school.
Only 40% of disadvantaged pupils achieve expected attainment levels by the end of school.
Schools are increasingly bearing the burden of addressing poverty, with teachers often stepping in to provide essentials like food for pupils.
(Source: Child of the North; Poverty report, 2024)
What research tells us about poverty and education settings
The report highlights a connection between poverty and the school attendance crisis, noting that children in poverty are more likely to be persistently absent.
During the pandemic, schools and nurseries demonstrated their ability to support disadvantaged families beyond the classroom.
Successful initiatives like ‘Poverty Proofing the School Day’ (Children North East) and the work of Tees Valley Education show how organisations can help to make sense of the complexity of poverty and tackle it.
Highlighted initiatives, such as Durham University’s programme to provide evidence-based educational support to local schools, demonstrate how higher education institutions can contribute to tackling inequality.
Regional lens: No Time to Wait
What: ‘No Time to Wait’ report/analysis of regional poverty in the North East of England. Great example of how national poverty data can be understood in the hyperlocal context of regional inequality and how to tackle it.
Who: North East Child Poverty Commission
Where: Access it here
When: Published, February 2024
The North East Child Poverty Commission (NECPC) is a collaborative body established to address and reduce child poverty across the North East regions. It brings together stakeholders from local authorities, education, healthcare, businesses, and the voluntary sector to advocate for systemic change and implement practical solutions to tackle poverty.
The No Time to Wait report is a comprehensive analysis of child poverty trends in the North East and a call to action for immediate intervention. Key findings and context include:
Rising Child Poverty: Between 2014/15 and 2021/22, the percentage of children living in relative poverty (after housing costs) in the North East increased by nine percentage points, from 26% to 35%. This is the sharpest rise experienced by any UK nation or region during this period.
Current Status: The North East now has the second-highest child poverty rate in the UK, underscoring the urgent need for targeted action.
The report highlights the severity of the child poverty crisis in the North East and serves as a call for policy change and collaborative efforts.
You can see that it provides a blueprint for how to tackle child poverty at scale across the region (while focused on the North East some of the content is clearly relatable to other regions and areas in the UK)
Further Links
This isn’t an exhaustive list, I didn’t include everything. If I have missed anything that you think is particularly noteworthy, just drop me a note.
The following may also be of use to readers: