Almost half of North East families with children under the age of five are living in poverty, a new study says, with the region having significantly the highest rate in the country.
The report by Little Village, a baby bank helping families in London, and the national Joseph Rowntree Foundation, found that around 47% of families with young children in the region are in poverty, with around 100,000 pre-school children affected. Child poverty campaigners in the North East have called the figures “simply intolerable”, and say the Government has to take action if its ‘levelling up’ promise to the North East and other regions is to have any meaning.
The report - It Takes a Village - found that child poverty levels are even higher for children with a disabled parent, children in single-parent household and children from racial minorities. Increasing numbers of families in poverty have at least one parent in work. It has called on the Government to improve childcare and make changes to the benefit system to tackle rising levels of child poverty.
