One in three children in North England living in poverty: Report

About one in three children living in Northern England were living in poverty, the highest level since 2000, a report looking at the UK’s cost of living crisis has found.

It's among a number of statistics uncovered by the Child Poverty and the Cost of Living Crisis report released from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).

APPG is a grouping in the UK Parliament that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within parliament.

Statistics found that 34% of children were living in poverty in the North during the pandemic, compared with 28% in the rest of England.

The report found that children living in the North of England are among the most vulnerable to rising living costs, and child poverty, including fuel poverty and food insecurity, is higher in the North than the rest of England.

The report also found that families in the North are more likely to be living in poor quality, damp homes. Before living costs started to rise, over 98,500 homes in the North already had some form of damp and 1.1 million homes in the North failed 'decent homes' criteria, which sets the minimum standards that social homes are required to meet.

Before the current crisis, around one million households in the North were fuel poor, proportionally more households than in the rest of England – 15% in the North compared to 12%.

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