It is estimated that around 3.9 million children are living in poverty in the UK, with this equating to almost 1 in 3 children. According to the children’s charity Barnardo’s, child poverty is the most significant threat to the safety and wellbeing of children and families in the UK.
What is poverty?
Poverty is a difficult concept to define and as a result of this there are many different definitions, which have been suggested. The general consensus is that poverty is a lack of basic needs and services, including shelter, clean water and food. However, there are also many definitions, which include material needs and sometimes an income of half the national average is used to define poverty.
According to the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee, there are three different definitions of poverty; these include absolute poverty, relative poverty and social exclusion. Absolute poverty is defined as a lack of basic resources, which are needed to ensure good health and wellbeing; relative poverty relates to income in comparison to the national average and also involves a lack of material possessions. Social exclusion is a term used to define what can happen when an individual experiences a combination of factors, including unemployment, poor health, low income and relationship breakdown.
How does poverty affect children?
Research has shown that poverty can have long-lasting implications for children, as poverty can affect their physical and mental development and their emotional and social wellbeing. Figures from Barnardo’s show that one third of children go without at least one thing that they need on a daily basis; for example, they may not have clean clothes every day or they may miss a meal.
Poverty may affect children in the following ways:
- fewer opportunities
- poor health (children who grow up in poverty are more likely to suffer from poor health in both their childhood and adult life)
- lower life expectancy
- social exclusion
- less participation in society
- increased risk of unemployment
- lower rates of educational achievement
- higher risk of crime
- difficult behaviour
Tackling child poverty
The government is committed to reducing the number of children living in poverty and is working towards a target of eradicating child poverty completely by the year 2020. The Child Poverty Act was introduced to tackle child poverty and help to lift children living in poverty out of poverty and given them the support they need. As part of the Child Poverty Act, a Child Poverty Commission has been appointed to oversee the strategies to reduce child poverty and offer advice to the government.
