Work and Pensions written question – answered at on 25 November 2013.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many children were in poverty in (a) April 2010 and (b) the most recent period for which figures are available.
This information is not available for all periods requested.
The Child Poverty Act 2010 sets four income-based UK-wide targets to be met by 2020. The targets are based on the proportion of children living in households with relative low income, combined low income and material deprivation, absolute low income and persistent poverty (all before housing costs have been taken into account).
Estimates of these are published in the National Statistics 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. This information is captured using the Family Resources Survey.
Due to the sample size of this survey, sufficient data is not collected within a single month needed to provide a robust child poverty estimate for April 2010 only. All child poverty figures reported are therefore in financial years only.
Figures on the number of children in relative and absolute low income as well as in combined low income and material deprivation for 2010-11 and 2011-12 (the latest period for which figures are available) can be found in the latest HBAI publication, available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/households-below-average-income-hbai-199495-to-201112 (ISBN 978-1-78153-531-8).
Relevant figures can be found in Table 4.3tr, 4.4tr and 4.5tr (on pages 104-06).
Persistent child poverty figures have only been published up to 2005-08, therefore figures for the requested periods do not exist and cannot be provided.
We want to develop better measures of child poverty, which include, but go beyond, income to provide a more accurate picture of the reality of child poverty and drive the right action. Our consultation on how best to measure child poverty closed on
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