More children of working parents living in poverty

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s UK Poverty report for 2018/19 states that the number of children from working families but living in poverty has increased “dramatically” over the last 20 years. Last year, more than half (56 per cent) of people living in poverty were in a working family compared with 39 per cent two decades ago. This means seven in 10 children living in poverty are from working families. “Low-income households with children say that the issue of childcare is one of the reasons they are unable to work more hours,” the report states. “Low-paid workers are also more likely to work non-standard hours such as evenings and weekends or have irregular shift patterns than other workers. Finding formal childcare to fit in with these work patterns is much more difficult,” it adds. Read more.