One in four children of UK care workers living in poverty, TUC finds

Looking more broadly, the TUC said one in five key worker households, or 19%, had children living in poverty. Photograph: Design Pics Inc./Alamy

More than one in four children with care worker parents are growing up in poverty, according to a report by Trades Union Congress, with the union warning of “rampant” hardship in households with key workers.

The TUC said that 220,000 children – 28.4% – with at least one social care worker as a parent were in poverty, and said the number was on course to rise to nearly 300,000 by the end of this parliament unless action was taken to improve pay and conditions in the sector.