Hundreds of Bromsgrove children living in poverty (From Bromsgrove Advertiser)
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Hundreds of Bromsgrove children living in poverty
3:10pm Sunday 24th February 2013 in News
Campaign: The Campaign to End Child Poverty group has released new poverty statistics for Bromsgrove. Ref:s
HUNDREDS of Bromsgrove children are living in poverty according to new statistics released by a campaign group.
And one of Worcestershire's poorest areas has been revealed to be Charford where 324 children - or one in five - live in poverty.
The data, compiled in 2012, has been published by the Campaign to End Child Poverty, which is calling on the Government to set out how it will meet its commitment to end child poverty by 2020.
The group is also calling for action at a local level to address child poverty.
Children are classified as being in poverty if they live in a family receiving out of work benefits or in-work tax credits where reported income is less than 60 per cent, before housing costs are taken into account.
The figures show that Sidemoor, Catshill and Whitford are the other town poverty hotspots as the number of children living in poverty was found to be 133, 112 and 105 respectively.
But the gap between rich and poor in Bromsgrove is illustrated by the difference between these areas and several other wards in the town, where it was found less than five per cent of children are living in poverty.
These areas include Stoke Heath, Slideslow, Tardebigge and Norton.
Bromsgrove MP Sajid Javid said: “Cutting child poverty, and poverty in general, requires an economy that creates jobs.
“This is the surest way to improve living standards for everyone and particularly those, such as children, who are dependent on others.
“I'm pleased that unemployment has been falling month on month, and today we have more people in employment that at anytime in our history.
"The Government's Pupil Premium, Universal Credit, Work Programme and investment in childcare are all also helping to deal with the causes of poverty.
“The tax cuts for the lowest paid have made 24 million people better off, and taken over 2 million out of income taxation altogether."
