More children are living in poverty despite both parents working, study shows
Children are now significantly more likely to grow up in poverty than they were two decades ago, despite all adults in the household working full-time, new research has found.
Around 430,000 children across the UK are believed to be at risk of poverty in households where every adult works full-time, according to new data from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Action for Children.
He said the figures showed a “fundamental shift” in the nature of poverty in the UK, with almost three-quarters of children in poverty at the turn of the century living in working households by 2024/25.
This impact is especially severe for children in single-parent families, the data show. For couples, the likelihood of child poverty in working families has tripled since 2000, from 2 percent to 6 percent; For single parents, this rate increased from 9 percent to 14 percent.
According to IPPR, children in single-parent families are twice as likely to fall into poverty as children in couple families.
Efforts to reverse child poverty are making a “real difference”, a government spokesman said, adding that the use of food banks fell within Labour’s purview.
“Parents are doing everything we ask of them – working full-time and juggling childcare – but many are still watching their children grow up in poverty,” said Henry Parkes, IPPR’s chief economist and head of quantitative research.
“This is not a failure of individual families, but a sign that the system can no longer deliver on its fundamental promise.”
The research revealed that more than half of the families who were able to earn a second income were able to rise above the poverty line. But researchers said many families struggle to do this due to structural barriers such as high childcare costs, limited availability outside of term, inflexible jobs and lack of informal support.
Mr Parkes said the research showed poverty was not about “effort” but was often a result of families not being offered appropriate support.
“This research shows that this is not inevitable: When families, especially those earning second incomes, are supported to get ahead, their financial situation improves rapidly,” he explained. “The problem isn’t trying, it’s the barriers we put to work and childcare, and these can be fixed.”
IPPR is now calling on the government to overhaul the benefits system and expand access to flexible, family-friendly roles.
Lucy Schonegevel, Action for Children’s director of influence, policy and campaigns, said: “At Action for Children we see many families who are working as hard as they can, balancing work with caring responsibilities, but still struggling to make ends meet.
“We want to see more practical measures to help working families progress in the labor market and increase their earnings. This should include resolving the many issues around Universal Credit childcare support, piloting an improved progression offer for parents on Universal Credit, and strengthening work allowance to improve work incentives, particularly for second earners and single parents.”
A government spokesman said: “We have doubts about some of the statistics in this report. For example, some confuse two different versions of poverty statistics that cannot be directly compared in this way, meaning the conclusions are misleading.”
“After years of increasing hardship, our efforts to reverse poverty are making a real difference; household incomes have risen by 5 per cent in real terms, nearly 100,000 fewer children are in deep financial poverty and food bank use has fallen.
“In addition, our ground-breaking Child Poverty Strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030, and we are helping to reduce the cost of living by increasing the National Living Wage and delivering the first sustainable increase to Universal Credit ever above inflation.”
