Official government poverty figures were updated last week and show that in 2023/24 around 4.45 million children were living in poverty (DWP, 2025). This is up from around 4.33 million the year previously.
This equates to 31% of all children and the data shows that 7 in 10 (72%) are from families where at least one parent is working. The figures note that the increase in poverty “was mainly due to a real-terms fall in income from employment and self-employment for households with children”.
A family is considered to be living in poverty if its household income after housing costs is less than 60% of the median income (about £22,500); they are living in deep poverty if their income is less than 50% of the median.
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