People of ENGLAND are living in abject poverty. 1 in 3 children live in poverty

England

Nearly one in three of England’s children live in poverty - one of the worst rates of child poverty in the developed world. From emergency grants for families in need to advocacy at Westminster, we’re fighting to end child poverty in England.

A glimpse inside many of the country’s homes tells you what poverty looks like in England: rising damp, too few clothes for cold weather, children sharing a mattress on the floor.

We see flats without cookers and parents who go without so their children have enough to eat.

A family of eleven share a two bedroomed house. This room is shared by a mother and four of her six children. The walls are in disrepair and are mouldy.

The facts

• Nearly 1 in 3 children in England live in poverty.
• In parts of London and Manchester, more than a quarter of children live in severe poverty.
• It's also a problem in affluent areas: in Cambridgeshire and Berkshire, 1 in 10 live in poverty.
• In 2010 we spent £1.8 million to help children and their families in England.

What we’ve achieved

Across England our programmes are tackling child poverty directly, family by family, in some of the country’s poorest communities.

At the highest levels of government we press for significant policy change.

• Our pioneering Families and Schools Together (FAST) programme, launched in 2010, is helping children get a good start at school by bringing parents into the classroom through a two-year programme. In our pilot projects, children did better academically, behaved better in the classroom, and had better relations with their peers and families. Parents felt more confident about helping their children with their schoolwork.
• In Westminster, a group of 9- and 10-year-olds worked with Westminster City Council on a workshop and leaflet showing people how to save money on electricity and gas bills, and be environmentally friendly. Young people in Bradford are successfully campaigning for better youth support services and cheaper school uniforms.
• As a result of our lobbying in the run-up to this year’s budget and the publication of the government’s first child poverty strategy, many of our points, including a clear measure of severe child poverty, have been adopted.
• Our Shout is a Save the Children project based in Bradford, made up of young people aged 13-18 who have been campaigning tirelessly for the past three years to end child poverty in the UK on a local, regional and national level.