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??

How can someone who owns their own home outright be considered to be in poverty?

The paper explaining methods is illuminating. Basically says it is essentially useless.

I think that the percentages of poverty are a load of crap a lot of the time.
If you use the exact same figure for two families, and one family buys everything own brand when they do their shopping and buys cheaper clothes- money goes further, and children will have far more than another family who has the same but buys things that are all branded.

Shouldn't the deciding factor of whether a child is in poverty be if they need things that aren't readily available for them because of financial limitations and not, what their family starts with, or has after the rent has been paid.

Our area has just below 24% of child poverty by the way. It's so very sad. One of DDs friends came to the cinema and for McDonald's with us one day. She couldn't fathom how we could afford it, and came to the understanding that we must have just found a cheaper McDonald's than her parents could find, she went on to say that because she also had ice cream it was the best day she had ever had, and as conversation drifted she talked about Christmas and it really sounded so sad. I was in tears after we took her home, because some children's lives really arent good and it's not their fault.

Luxyelectro explanation is fine. I agree - that's what I was saying earlier.

Lifestyle is subjective though. I am astounded by some of the things people spend on. (Fizzy drinks - just why?????)

A iPad/tablet isn't necessarily a luxury and I would prioritse that over new clothes, (charity shops), Christmas presents, take aways, processed food. Others would not.

Betty - that is sad. And you are right. Some kids have not very nice lives at all.

@Unreasonable: If the parents waste money and the child is not given enough money to buy books for school, etc., or even given any proper food (which happens) is the child not poor then? Sure, the parents are not, but the child is.

This is, I think, the only case in which child poverty is really a topic - real poverty is just as bad for adults, I don't see why one should only be worried about children.

In my opinion, taxes should be increased, especially for those who earn a lot more money than anyone actually needs. That money could then be used to not only give out free books, writing materials and lunch for children at school, but also create free childcare so that single mothers can earn money for their family.

(The idea of regulating what poor people can spend money on is patronising and I would rather not go there. Tax-paid education and food seem a more elegant solution.)

With those figures I'm definetly in poverty. I work full time but get minimum wage tbh I was better off when I was at college on benefits. I have £32 a week after essential bills ie rent, council tax, gas, electricity and to licence that £32 has to do food. I don't know how people without supportive families do it. I am lucky I have a caring mum who will often have us for dinner and pays for DDs extra curricular activities and occasionally some shoes or something useful she needs but not everyone is that lucky and I have no idea with no support how they manage.

Rosalyn That is very hard.
VestalVirgin good points. I agree it is not nice to talk about what poor people can spend money on - BUT if it is the children who are suffering there should be some way of looking out for them.

Rosalyn are you sure you are claiming everything you are entitled to? Housing benefit and council tax support for example. £32 a week after bills but to cover food, clothes, etc etc just doesn't seem right.

Vestalvirgin- if the parents have enough money and waste it, and don't give their child decent food to eat, or buy essentials for school etc, doesnt this fall into the area of neglect? I mean to me, if a parent has the money to provide essentials but chooses not to this is neglectful?
Of course people aren't only concerned for children, but this is a thread about children's poverty.
Poverty is sad for anyone who is dragged into it. ive lived in poverty, and I feel incredibly sad that that is all some people get to see in life, what I will say though, is that an adult will most of the time have the tools and opportunities to make it better, whereas a child doesn't.

This is odd
14 percent where I live now and 40 percent where I lived until recently
No idea what the criteria is but it just doesn't tally for me....

Rosalyn, I'm not being rude, but do you get child tax, working tax, Housing benefit, council tax support?
How long have you been at work? If you were out of work on benefits before ou got this job, are you getting a return to work benefit?.... I'm just thinking of help you may be able to receive, if you are on min wage, is DD entitled to free school meals?
It's awful you are left with £30 odd for shopping per week. I'm really sorry to read this. I hope your situation improves very soon. I'm sorry I have no useful information that will change anything.

Fairly simple. children don't work, they are therefore reliant on their parents.

the users here do not want to pay their cleaners a wage that would keep cleaners kids out of poverty, rather fulfill their Downton abbey fantasy = impoverished kids

you create the very when you shop for the cheapest price, pushing manufacturing abroad and British companies into liquidation.

if you are not willing to pay up, shut up

9.44 here. Nick Clegg's constituency.

Yes although bloody tax credits have near enough vanished on paper my wages look ok (not great 16k pa) but I live in an area with increasing rent and a crap local housing allowance. There is no way anyone could get a 2 bed for what the local housing allowance is. So rent swallows practically all of my income(bar a few pounds)! My housing benefit goes on gas and electricity. I don't qualify for social housing as I have a property and am not at risk of homelessness but if I say get evicted due to non payment of rent I'd have made myself intentionally homeless so still wouldn't qualify! It's a crap system but I don't suffer (thanks to poor mum!). DD doesn't qualify for fsm which pee's me off no end but hopefully my career will kick off soon .

Vestalvirgin- also, I wasn't suggesting that what poor people's money is spent on should be accounted for in any way.
I was saying that poverty should not be calculated by the amount of money someone has after a certain point, because certain people make their money go much further than others...

when talking about the one family who spends on cheaper brands and another who has more expensive, was actually taking into account one of my friends and myself.

Friends husband pulls in something like £25000 per year, they have five children and no benefits. Their rent is £1050 per month, by the calculations they would be on the poverty line.

We earn at least 10k more per year. We have one child and our rent is £700 per month.
So for the purposes of the poverty calculator we would not be on the poverty line.

We have been shopping for our children's clothes together, and we have also been food shopping together. her food shop was incredibly low, not because she buys less, but because she buys cheap. Her food shop for the month was close to what we spend a week.
But that's easy to see why, when she will buy an asda sauce for something like 35p, and I buy dolmio at 1.35 or something similar.

She went to primark and bought the kids all a few bits for £80 when we spend quite a bit on clothes.
When we were doing school clothes shopping, I spent more in Clarks on my one that she did on her three that needed school shoes.

People have very different ways of doing things. And some people make money last much much longer than others.

My friends children aren't impoverished whatever the statistics come to. Her children have exactly the same prospects and expectations out of life than my one does.

i just don't think that it's fair to put the label there in the first place, it makes people feel like shit when someone says that your child is living in poverty... Especially if you are trying your best to make sure that they have everything that's needed, it's like someone saying that the children still don't have.

When in reality, it's not always that way, because many people who are a bit worse off are bloody nifty with their money and make sure that it goes exactly where it needs to and their children aren't actually living in poverty.

I feel like I've really done a bad job of explaining what I mean.., but in many cases I suspect children will be alright cos it is the ones who need to make the choice of whether they have cheapest and have everything or have more expensive and half of what is needed will make the choice of cheapest and the children will have all they need.
My mate does so well, I need to tell her I think that tomorrow.

30.92% by me. Breaks my heart. However I have to be honest. Im not in anyway denying there are poor children and families out there, but me personally. I've never met any poor children, and glad I haven't, too.
All the children I know. Who live by me. Have all the latest mod considered, and are always getting taken away on holiday 2 or 3 times a year, and I'm not talking about camping or to Pontins. I'm talking about world cruises, and Australia, America ect.
But please believe me that is not me denying that poor children exist. How can i, even if I wanted to. The facts are there in black and white. It's so sad. Children living in poverty in the 21st century.

MileEnd Yes same area as you. I'm shocked that figure would be so high in a rich country in the 21st century. The inequality in this country is appalling.

Rosalyn I think that's how it tends to work with private properties and private renting.
I remember moving into the house I currently live in, and I was on benefits. They said they would pay something like £530 of my rent and it was £650 at the time, and this is the cheapest two bedroom house in the area, I know this because it is tiny- built as an extension then returbed into a house,, but anyway, rents gone up and it's still about £200 below the rent of anywhere else in the area. And that was a killer, so I can well believe that housing benefit isn't half the help that it should be.
You didn't mention whether you receive any help with council tax, if you haven't applied, please do, because that could be a really big help for you.
You'll love this question, have you seen whether you might be able to save some money off your gas and electric with utility warehouse? One of the ladies I know says how much money she's saved since switching.
I'm sorry things are so awful for you, hopefully you'll get a nice pay rise/ promotion just before Christmas comes.
I'm glad your mum is helping out. It's very hard when you are supposed to be looking after yourself and your child and you have very little. Things will get better.

It's 12.55 percent where I am. I just looked up the poverty line for the uk and we are definitely under it. We are considerably worse off than most people round here but I don't feel in poverty. We have no savings, no holidays or expensive days out but we do have a roof over our heads, can afford to heat the house, enough food to eat, enough clothes and run a car.
I do often feel "poor" but I wouldn't class us as living in poverty.

Betty if your friends dh earns 25k and they have five dc they are receiving tax credits.

I was struggling with huge bills so I have the awful pre payment meters. It's ok in summer but winter is a major expense! Same as my area lha is 695 pcm but the average price for 2 bed here is 1200 mines 1050. In the last 5 years I have not seen 1 property (and I get alerts from everyone!!) anywhere close to lha. its tricky but with family help I manage ok and don't starve but there are families with no support from family what so ever and it just isn't do able. The amount the government says 1 adult 1 child need to live on is something silly like 102.00 per week (for bills and food) that goes in bills alone for most people.

Money is the least of the issue as other posters have said.

My son gets FSM (although chooses to have a home prepared packed lunch instead) and I recently got a letter from his old mainstream school (who still have us in their database for mail) telling me that because he is entitled to these he can also get a free breakfast. He can go to the school cafe and get toast and juice when he gets in,

Now I find it staggering that children might attend school without having had a breakfast. My son's special school also offer breakfast but that's because some of the children come from a long distance and might like refreshment when they get in.

I am shocked that we accept some children might not get breakfast. I can understand that school meals might get expensive, especially if you have more than one child but breakfast...nah! Cereal and milk cost very little and can last for several days.

But it still costs money. Besides they're assuming that because you are on free school meals your child will naturally come from a chaotic and dysfunctional background ...