Child: Poverty
Work and Pensions
Helen Jones (Warrington North, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of children living in poverty in each council ward in Warrington North constituency.
Maria Miller (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Disabled People), Work and Pensions; Basingstoke, Conservative)
Estimates of the number and proportion of children living in poverty are published in the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series. HBAI uses household income adjusted (or ‘equivalised’) for household size and composition, to provide a proxy for standard of living.
The sample size of this survey is not sufficient to provide estimates for small areas such as those requested. However, figures at a regional level for north-west are available. Three survey years have been combined because single year estimates are not considered to be sufficiently reliable.
Statistics covering 2007-08 to 2009-10 are the most recent available.
The following table shows the proportion and number of children living in relative poverty Before Housing Costs (BHC) in the UK, for 2007-08 to 2009-10 in the north-west.
| Number and proportion of children living in relative poverty (BHC) in the north-west | ||
| Region | Number (million) | Proportion (percentage) |
| North-west | 0.4 | 25 |
| Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data available at: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=hbai_arc 2. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income (HBAI) data sourced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). This uses disposable household income, adjusted using modified OECD equivalisation factors for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. 3. Net disposable incomes have been used to answer the question. This includes earnings from employment and self-employment, state support, income from occupational and private pensions, investment income and other sources. Income tax, payments, national insurance contributions, council tax/domestic rates and some other payments are deducted from incomes. 4. Figures have been presented on a Before Housing Cost rather than an After Housing Cost basis. For Before Housing Costs, housing costs are not deducted from income, while for After Housing Costs they are. 5. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to a degree of uncertainty. Small differences should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. 6. The reference period for these HBAI figures is three financial years. 7. Numbers of children have been rounded to the nearest hundred thousand children. 8. Proportions of children in low-income households have been rounded to the nearest percentage point. 9. This measure is defined as: Relative poverty: children living in households with equivalised incomes below 60% of contemporary median household income. 10. The Child Poverty Act 2010 sets three further income-based UK-wide targets to be met by 2020. The targets are based on the proportion of children living in households with combined low income and material deprivation, absolute low income and persistent poverty. Source: Households Below Average Income 1994-05 to 2009-10, DWP | ||