To be sad 32% of children near me are in poverty?

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www.nomorekidsinpoverty.uk/ how about you?

How can this be acceptable??

I can't comment on that but most low earners are in receipt of tax credits and often HB, parents get Child benefit and if you budget, cook from scratch, don't have high transport costs or bills and save up for Christmas you can do wonders.

Of course I don't have a problem with it but you did say 'thousands' yourself and also made a point of saying you had iPads, phones and Virgin tv. It does sound to me like you're being goady and have an agenda.

Ipads and phones are cheap nowadays.

most homes have ipads,mobiles whether they choose to say is up to them

im honest with my situation which MN see's sometimes as goady,troll etc

im making the point with details that although on paper i may be classed as being in poverty but there is no way we as a family are,which leads to what do we call poverty

that is the crux of this topic is it not,and unless people give details how can anybody measure poverty,but i can see why some dont want to disclose and that is their right

on here i can be honest whether people agree or not,in real life were not so open

Let's not get into personal stuff. seasidesally didn't say anything different from several other posters. It serves as anecdote to the debate which is actually a very important one.

How we as a society define poverty and how much of it we accept is crucial. How we can tackle it follows on from that. We do need to look at the whole picture. If double income families are seriously struggling, maybe childcare, transport, living costs are high yet someone on benefits is not - then maybe we need to rethink how we assess and deliver benefits. If kids are suffering because people don't budget - yet our solution is to pay more benefits maybe that is an area we should look at.

We have to be able to discuss it without either victim blaming or government blaming.

and where did i say thousands ??

i did say £1200 thats not thousands

Sally I spend by disability benefit on extra heating, wheelchair batteries, petrol, hospital car parking ,ie the extra costs of having a disability. My dc don't need fancy gadgets and expensive Christmas presents because I am disabled.

14.2% here. I don't know anyone in poverty. My dmum grew up in real poverty not enough of anything.
Glad it's changed for people like Seasidesally, who is only giving her pov.

I recently was in receipt of full tax credits and tbh although we were likely classed as living in poverty, we were a lot better off than now, where I'm working full-time in a 'graduate' profession and no longer entitled to tax credits, fsm's, free prescriptions etc.

I am a single parent with no financial support from the DCs dad, so that makes a huge difference, I imagine

23.99% here but that doesn't surprise me as the area is run down. Families locally are generally low paid workers and so rely on tax credits for help to pay rent plus heat and food costs.

I am in poverty too apparently as I am on benefits, however I don't feel "in poverty" because I worked for nearly 30 years prior to this. As a result we have things that others with a similar income do not.

DS thinks we are poor though as I restrict his in app purchasing when gaming. He says "I hate being poor" and I have to remind him he has a roof over his head, clean and dry bedding and clothes plus a belly full of food which many people the world over do not have. He is autistic so it can be an uphill task sometimes getting him to appreciate his good fortune.

My Mum also grew up in poverty. Some days without food. Hiding from the rent man. No shoes for school. Never any new clothes - ever. Cold. Not enough money for the doctor - consequent health problems for her and all her siblings - the death of one of them at 3yrs old. No bathroom, one outside shared loo. Never her own room, (shared a bed until she was a teen). No option to stay on at school. Never, ever a holiday, (her first holiday was her honeymoon). Hard work.

According to that £268 thing we 'live in poverty', which I would say is not true and ridiculous. If we are counted as in poverty, and therefore other people in the same situation as us, then this criteria and survey is a complete joke. I'd rather they focus on actual poverty (ie no lights or heating on and kids only ever eat toast and have a couple of sets of clothes) than people who can actually live comfortably with some sacrifices.

Exactly Sparklycat

AndNowItsSeven well i dont have as many children as you so im only buying for 3 plus my sister

also my dc's dad is no longer with us so i probably do compensate because of that,but i wont feel bad about indulging my children at Christmas

Is the £268 per week or per month?

this report shows more detail across the country, including explaining its statistics and methodology and over time.

It says 17% of children have a relatively low income (605 of median) before housing costs, compared to 26% in 1999.

28% of children are in that position after housing costs compared to 34% in 1999

19% of children have absolute low income before housing costs (defined as 60% of 2010 median income) compared to 35% in 1999

31% absolute low income after housing costs, compared to 42% in 1999.

Broadly speaking, on all the measures the numbers have been flat since 2002.

35% in my area, which may be accurate. Although, in my street, very inaccurate.

The area is near the town centre, but within walking distance. But the closer you get to the town, the poorer it is.

The town is a real transient place, people moving all the time, and people from London moving here for cheaper housing.

Without specific criteria, this all feels pointless.

40.58% here...wow! I thought it would be high but almost half is very sad.

IMO genuine poverty does exist in the UK. But this relative poverty statistic is ludicrously meaningless, because it just measures how many people have less then 60% of average. So as someone on the radio said, if the national pension goes up, then more children are classed as living in poverty even if their parents have exactly the same income as before, because the average national income has gone up, so more of them are below the 60% line. It's just nonsense.

That's why carol's stats a few posts back are in effect meaningless....that's not a criticism by the way but it shows how much these stats can move when all you measure is income. Poverty in my experience is about so much more than that.

Is it still insulting when someone on benefits is doing so? That was why I thought Sally was being goady to be honest.

And I think it's insulating to claim, even in general that people who live in poverty are doing so because they have sky tv, holidays, smoking, drinking, poor budgeting, too many children,

Sally isn't suggesting that she is in poverty because of her spending - she's saying that she spends/saves well and her circs allow this spending (I think), in spite of relative poverty. Very different from "we're in poverty because we pay for Sky and iPads".