Joseph Rowntree Foundation finds an increase in children and pensioners living in poverty

Figures from the think tank show that 300,000 more children and 400,000 more pensioners are now living in poverty than in 2012-13: the first sustained increase in child poverty for 20 years. 

14 million people in the UK currently live in poverty – more than one in five of the population. While poverty levels fell in the years to 2011-12, changes to welfare policy – especially since the 2015 Budget – have seen the numbers creep up again.

The report's release follows the entire social mobility commission quitting over the weekend citing a lack of progress towards a 'fairer Britain'.

Alan Milburn, the government tsar for social mobility said on his resignation that the venture had been rife with “indecision, dysfunctionality and lack of leadership” seeing 'little hope' that Theresa May's government would be able to contribute to a more equal society. 

Frances O'Grady the general secretary of the Trade Unions Congress said: “Working people are not getting a fair deal from the economy, with real wages still worth less than a decade ago.” She called for a minimum wage of £10 an hour.

JRF chief executive Campbell Robb said: “These worrying figures suggest that we are at a turning point in our fight against poverty. Political choices, wage stagnation and economic uncertainty mean that hundreds of thousands more people are now struggling to make ends meet.”

Oxfam’s Rachael Orr said: “It’s not just working adults who are affected, but their children too, and it’s a real worry to see progress on child poverty going into reverse.”

Chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group Alison Garnham added: “As today’s report shows, we know how to reduce child poverty in the UK – we’ve done it before. Yet at the start of a sustained rise in the rate of child poverty – bewilderingly – there is inaction. The question the report begs is why are we not investing in our children?

“Families with children have had a decade of cuts to their incomes and the damage is showing. Unless there is action now to protect the living standards of low-income families, we will pile up problems for future generations and for the UK economy.”

Source: Joesph Rowntree Foundation.