Help us imagine a better future

4.3 million children are growing up in poverty in the UK. They are isolated and excluded.

Flying pink unicorn
Pillow fort

Child poverty facts

Poverty affects every aspect of a child’s life, from growing up in cramped, damp homes to going without a warm winter coat and being left behind on school trips.

It means childhoods filled with worry. Kids in poverty often do less well at school. Poverty damages their health and future life chances.

  • 4.3 million children in the UK are growing up in poverty – that’s 9 in a classroom of 30.
  • 900,000 kids in poverty in England alone miss out on free school meals.
  • 47 per cent of children from Black and minority ethnic groups in the UK are in poverty, compared with 24 per cent of children in white families.
Child's toy monster
Flying car with graphics blocks around it

How to solve it

When the UK’s leaders get more money to families with the least, kids get their childhoods back.

The UK’s leaders need to make a plan to tackle child poverty, starting with:

  • Removing the two-child limit on benefits – because kids shouldn’t be punished for having siblings
  • Scrapping the benefit cap – it hurts single mothers and their young children most
  • Raising child benefit by £20 a week – to invest in children and give security
  • Rolling out free school meals for all school pupils – so all children can enjoy lunch together