Child Poverty in Kent, Has Risen For Fifth Year In A Row
With the world concentrating it’s attention on the Covid-19 pandemic other issues are, understandably, passing unnoticed. One of these issues is the continuing growth in poverty in Kent & the UK which is likely to grow even more as consequence of the current crisis.
According to the last Govt figures issued last week, which cover cover the last five financial year, child poverty, both relative and absolute, in Kent has increased for the fifth year running!
The interactive chart (hover over bars for numbers) below is for relative poverty between 2014/15 – 2018/19 for all 12 Kent districts.
The number of children aged under 16 living in absolute poverty has reached 44,771, and those living in relative poverty has reached 55,113, according to data released by the Department of Works & Pensions (DWP) and HMRC last week.
To put that into context the number of children living in absolute poverty is almost the population of Dover (44,846) within the given area of the map, and more than the population of Tonbridge (41,293), according to the latest Office of Nationals Statistics (ONS) population data.
Defining poverty in the UK, the headline measures are based on household income and so these are the terms used in this post.
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An individual is in absolute poverty if they are living in households with income below 60% of the 2010/11 median, uprated for inflation. By using an income threshold that is fixed in time, this measure looks at how living standards of low-income households are changing over time.
Across all 12 districts a further 5,270 under sixteens have been dragged into absolute poverty between 2014/15 and 2018/19.
The relative poverty figures are slightly higher with 51,113 living in relative poverty across all 12 districts of Kent. This is more than the population of Royal Tunbridge Wells – 51,070 within the boundary of the map, according to latest ONS population data
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An individual is in relative poverty if they are living in a household with income below 60% of median household income in that year. This measure essentially looks at inequality between low- and middle-income households.
Excellent investigative journalism, once again. What the hell is happening in this country. A radical rethink on how we treat the poorest in society needs to be brought forward asap. Is everything always about money.? A multitude of issues surround where we are today, but for Gods sake, when we have our Government bailing out Easyjet to the tune of £600,000,000 (taxpayers money) and then the owner of the company taking a £60,000,000 bonus/salary, call it what you will, there is something very, very corrupt going on. I’m sure that thet Government monies could have gone some way to taking those children out of poverty. God help the UK.