Campaigners claim that children are being neglected and failing, as the number of impoverished children in the UK has reached a record high, reports RTE.
In the year ending in March 2023, there were a projected 4.33 million children living in homes with quite low incomes after housing expenditures.
This exceeds the previous record of 4.28 million in the year ending in March 2020 and is up from 4.22 million the year before.
The most recent number is the highest since comparable UK data started in 2002/03, reports RTE.
If a household’s income falls below 60% of the median income after housing expenditures, they are deemed to be living in relative poverty.
Meghan Meek-O’Connor, senior child poverty policy adviser at Save the Children UK, said: “Today 4.3 million children are being failed. It is an outrage that 100,000 more children are in poverty – they are being forgotten,” reports RTE.
“These shocking figures should be an urgent wake-up call to all of us, especially the UK government. We cannot go on like this. There is no reason children should be going without food, heating, toys, or beds. Families need an adequate social security system that keeps children out of poverty, and provides them with a basic level of safety and security,” Megan added, reports RTE.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.