More than 20% of children living in poverty in all but one council area in NI

New research for the End Child Poverty Coalition shows that across Northern Ireland:

• 24% of all children are living in poverty
• 16 out of the 18 NI constituencies and 10 of the 11 local council areas have over 1 in 5 of all children living in poverty
• Nearly  a third of all children are living in poverty in West Belfast.
• More than 1 in 4 children are living in poverty in Belfast City, Derry City and Strabane and Newry, Mourne and Down council areas.
• There is a strong positive correlation between the two-child limit and child poverty across the region adding to compelling evidence that the two-child limit is a major driver of child poverty
• Campaigners call for the government to meet their commitment to significantly  reduce child poverty via a strategy – which must scrap the two-child limit as a starting point

New research to understand regional levels of child poverty, carried out by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Coalition, provides information on child poverty across the Britain and Northern Ireland. This highlights that a shocking 31% of all children in the UK are living in relative poverty, after the cost of housing is considered.

This new data shows that poverty is rife across the region. More than 20% of children are living in poverty in 16 out of the 18 NI constituencies, and 10 out of the 11 local council areas. This will mean that families may be using food banks to feed their children, children foregoing extra-curricular activities and school trips, children going without warm clothes in winter, or living in cold or unsafe housing.

Children in Northern Ireland have been somewhat shielded in comparison to children in England and Wales by Stormont’s welfare mitigations to the bedroom tax and the benefit cap, in particular. However, with rising rents and stagnant income, these mitigations alone will not be able to curb child poverty rates, which are already shamefully high.

The End Child Poverty Coalition, representing over 135 organisations across the UK, is calling on the government to meet its manifesto commitment to address these high levels of child poverty. The UK Child Poverty Strategy must scrap the two-child limit, which is a major driver of child poverty.

Similarly, the forthcoming NI Anti-Poverty Strategy must reflect the recommendations of the Audit Office and Public Accounts Committee recommendations for a Child Poverty Strategy with targets and funding that invests in children and their families.

No child should have to experience poverty. We know targeted policies work, so government must urgently address child poverty, so that another generation of children will not be growing up in poverty. The government’s strategy to tackle child poverty must invest in struggling households, to support families so that their children can thrive. As a first step the UK government must scrap the two-child limit to benefit payments, a policy which continues to pull children into poverty every day.

Becca Bor, Northern Ireland Anti-Poverty Network Development Coordinator

Read the full report ‘Local indicators of child poverty after housing costs, 2023/24’ and view tables with Constituency and Local Authority data.

This research uses a Relative After Housing Costs measure of child poverty. ‘After Housing Costs’ shows the income available to a household once rent, water rates, mortgage interest payments, buildings insurance payments, ground rent and service charges are paid. This enables a more accurate comparison of what households have available to spend on food, utilities, clothing and leisure, than looking at income alone, given the disparity of rents in different parts of the UK.

The End Child Poverty Coalition is made up of 135 organisations including child welfare groups, social justice groups, faith groups, trade unions and others. Together with a group of Youth Ambassadors, members campaign for a UK free of child poverty. NIAPN is a member of the End Child Poverty Coalition.