In 2023/24, 26.4 percent of children in the United Kingdom were defined as living in absolute poverty, compared with 16.9 percent of working-age adults, 13.2 percent of pensioners, and 20 percent of families where someone is disabled.
As of 2023/24 approximately 11.6 million people were living in relative poverty in the United Kingdom, with that number increasing to over 14.2 million when housing costs are considered.
Statistics on the proportion of households that are fuel poor in rural and urban areas, and the average fuel poverty gap (the additional income which would be needed to bring a household to the point of not being fuel poor).
Indicators:
Data source: BEIS fuel poverty statistics
Coverage: England
Rural classification used: Office for National Statistics Rural Urban Classification 2011
Defra statistics: rural
Email mailto:rural.statistics@defra.gov.uk">rural.statistics@defra.gov.uk
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Rates of poverty and persistent poverty in 2017 are included for the UK and EU, including characteristics, measures of material deprivation and well-being.
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Between 2018 and 2022, people in households in the ‘other’, Asian and black ethnic groups were the most likely to be in persistent low income, both before and after housing costs, out of all ethnic groups.
2023 fuel poverty detailed tables under the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) indicator.
If you have questions about these statistics, please email: fuelpoverty@energysecurity.gov.uk.
In England a free school meal is a statutory benefit available to school aged children from families who receive other qualifying benefits and who have been through the relevant registration process.
On 17 September 2013 the Department for Education announced that all infant school pupils (pupils in reception and years 1 and 2) in state funded schools in England will be eligible for a free school meal from September 2014.
This statistical release estimates the number of children in relative and absolute poverty by free school meal entitlement in the current system and looks at the impact on this of the announced extension to all infant school pupils for 2014 to 2015. In addition, this release presents analysis of the number of families currently on free school meals in relative and absolute poverty which would stand to benefit from being able to increase working hours without losing free school meals following the increase in entitlement.
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Model-based estimates of the proportion of households with mean weekly income lower than 60% of the national median weekly income, by middle layer super output area, England and Wales.
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The Children in low-income families' local area statistics (CiLIF), provides information on the number and proportion of children living in Absolute low income by local area across the United Kingdom.The summary Statistical Release and tables which also show the proportions of children living in low income families are available here: Children in low income families: local area statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Statistics on the number of children in low income families by financial year are published on Stat-Xplore. Figures are calibrated to the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) survey regional estimates of children in low income but provide more granular local area information not available from the HBAI, for example by Local Authority, Westminster Parliamentary Constituency and Ward.Absolute low-income is defined as a family in low income Before Housing Costs (BHC) in the reference year in comparison with incomes in 2010/11. A family must have claimed Child Benefit and at least one other household benefit (Universal Credit, tax credits, or Housing Benefit) at any point in the year to be classed as low income in these statistics. Gross income measure is Before Housing Costs (BHC) and includes contributions from earnings, state support and pensions.
Statistical disclosure control has been applied with Stat-Xplore, which guards against the identification of an individual claimant.
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Compares the at-risk-of-poverty rates for the UK and EU between 2005 and 2010.
Source agency: Office for National Statistics
Designation: National Statistics
Language: English
Alternative title: Comparison of UK and EU at-risk-of-poverty rates
This is a quantitative data collection. This study aimed to collect comprehensive information on all forms of resources (including income and assets) and indicative information on deprivation and style of living in order to define and measure poverty among a representative sample of the population of the United Kingdom. This major study was the result of fifteen years research. In 1964 the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust agreed to finance pilot studies on fatherless families, large families and unemployed and disabled people which were then to be followed by a national survey of poverty. In 1967-68, following pilot work, interviews were completed with 2,052 households (6,045 people), in 630 parliamentary constituencies throughout the United Kingdom. Another 1,514 households (3,539 people), were later interviewed in a poor area of Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales to secure information about the populations of the poorest areas. There were mixed reactions to the book’s publication in 1979. The concept of relative deprivation provoked much discussion but the issue of multiple deprivation experienced by individuals and families was largely ignored. Comparatively little attention was paid to certain forms of deprivation - such as deprivation at work and environmental or locational deprivation - although the report gave data about multiple deprivation drawn from 60 indicators. Nearly 50 years later this study was reanalysed in a project funded by Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The ‘Advancing Paradata’ project looked at shifts and continuities in the social process of gathering household survey data about poverty. In part it does this through analysis of survey paradata from the 1968 Poverty in the UK survey. Paradata captures the gamut of by-products of the collection of survey data and is of interest in understanding and improving survey quality and costs. The main focus has been on automatically captured macro items, but this is now expanding to include interviewer-generated observations. For the ‘Advancing Paradata’ project, information available only on paper questionnaires at the UK Data Archive was converted into digitised form and related metadata was created. A sample of 100 survey booklets has been selected for this collection. These booklets were chosen because they have significant quantities of marginalia written on the booklets. These booklets are available via the UK Data Service QualiBank, an online tool for browsing, searching and citing the content of selected qualitative data collections held at the UK Data Service. Names of survey respondents have been removed to protect confidentiality.
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3 year based data, i.e. 2007-10 refers to 2007-2010. In 2020-21, there was a reduced sample size due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The data used for both the 2018-22 and 2019-23 figures actually covers 4 years, but the 2020-21 data is omitted.
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United Kingdom UK: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $5.50 a Day: 2011 PPP: % of Population data was reported at 0.700 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.500 % for 2014. United Kingdom UK: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $5.50 a Day: 2011 PPP: % of Population data is updated yearly, averaging 0.700 % from Dec 2004 (Median) to 2015, with 12 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1.200 % in 2004 and a record low of 0.400 % in 2012. United Kingdom UK: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $5.50 a Day: 2011 PPP: % of Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s UK – Table UK.World Bank: Poverty. Poverty headcount ratio at $5.50 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $5.50 a day at 2011 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.; ; World Bank, Development Research Group. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/index.htm).; ; The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than one thousand six hundred household surveys across 164 countries in six regions and 25 other high income countries (industrialized economies). While income distribution data are published for all countries with data available, poverty data are published for low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia) only. The aggregated numbers for low- and middle-income countries correspond to the totals of 6 regions in PovcalNet, which include low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia). See PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/WhatIsNew.aspx) for definitions of geographical regions and industrialized countries.
The percentage of people defined as having low incomes in the United Kingdom has declined from **** percent in 1994/95 to **** percent in 2023/24, after housing costs are considered, and from **** percent to ** percent in the same time period before housing costs are considered.
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This shows fuel poor households as a proportion of all households in the geographical area (modelled) using the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) measure. Since 2021 (2019 data) the LILEE indicator considers a household to be fuel poor if: it is living in a property with an energy efficiency rating of band D, E, F or G as determined by the most up-to-date Fuel Poverty Energy Efficiency Rating (FPEER) methodologyits disposable income (income after housing costs (AHC) and energy needs) would be below the poverty line. The Government is interested in the amount of energy people need to consume to have a warm, well-lit home, with hot water for everyday use, and the running of appliances. Therefore, fuel poverty is measured based on required energy bills rather than actual spending. This ensures that those households who have low energy bills simply because they actively limit their use of energy at home, Fuel poverty statistics are based on data from the English Housing Survey (EHS). Estimates of fuel poverty at the regional level are taken from the main fuel poverty statistics. Estimates at the sub-regional level should only be used to look at general trends and identify areas of particularly high or low fuel poverty. They should not be used to identify trends over time.Data is Powered by LG Inform Plus and automatically checked for new data on the 3rd of each month.
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Numbers and percentages of children in poverty for Borough and London Wards (at 31 August each year).
This Children in Low-Income Families Local Measure shows the proportion of children living in families in receipt of out-of-work (means-tested) benefits or in receipt of tax credits where their reported income is less than 60 per cent of UK median income.
This measure provides a broad proxy for relative low income child poverty as set out in the Child Poverty Act 2010, and enables analysis at a local level. Statistics are published at various levels of geography providing an annual snapshot as at 31 August from 2006 onwards. The definitive national measure of relative child poverty as set out in the Child Poverty Act 2010, is contained in the DWP Households Below Average Income (HBAI) publication series.
Children in families in receipt of CTC (<60% median income) or IS/JSA: Number of children living in families in receipt of Child Tax Credit whose reported income is less than 60 per cent of the median income or in receipt of Income Support or Income-Based Jobseekers Allowance.
For National Statistics data on child poverty at Region, please refer to the Department of Work and Pensions' Households Below Average Income publication which uses the relative child poverty measure as set out in the Child Poverty Act 2010. The small area estimates are not directly comparable with the national figures. The publication can be found on the DWP website: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/households-below-average-income-hbai--2
More information, including Lower Super Outper Area data from HMRC.
Data for years 2006 to 2010 in the HMRC archive.
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Statistics in support of the UK Fuel Poverty Strategy
Source agency: Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Designation: National Statistics
Language: English
Alternative title: FPSR
Sub-regional fuel poverty 2023 data: low income low energy efficiency (LILEE).
The figures presented here are from the End Child Poverty Coalition are based on tax credit data, used to estimate the percentage of children on low incomes in local authorities, parliamentary constituencies and wards across the UK. They also use national trends in worklessness to estimate recent changes in the number of children who are in poverty because their parents have lost their jobs, to update the local tax credit data which is more than two years old. This is not a direct measure of exactly how many children are in poverty on the official definition, but is based on the closest to an equivalent measure we have of local levels of child poverty. The data have been adjusted to produce figures compatible with the measures derived from the national survey of income, showing how many children live in households with below 60 per cent of median income. Specifically, the adjustments ensure that the total reported level of child poverty, before and after housing costs, is similar when adding up all the local figures as the official national totals. Thus, the local data gives an idea of the relative poverty levels in different areas, but are adjusted to estimate what these actual levels would be if they could be measured on the same basis as the national household income survey. The local data starts by classifying children in poverty if they live in families in receipt of out of work benefits or in receipt of in-work tax credits where their reported family income is less than 60 per cent of median income. This indicator, compiled officially as a local estimate of child poverty, has been reported for August 2011 by HMRC. However, on its own it is provides an inaccurate picture of actual child poverty, considerably overstating the numbers in out-of-work poverty and understating the numbers in working poverty. While these factors may balance out overall, they can seriously misrepresent the overall trend where working and non-working poverty change in different ways, as well as misrepresenting local differences where working poverty is relatively more important in some areas than others. Therefore, the figures include an upward adjustment in the in-work figure and a downward adjustment in the out-of-work figure. The adjustments are made separately to for AHC and BHC estimates, in each case according to how the total of the local estimates compare to the actual national measure. Figures are then updated, taking into account Labour Force Survey data on the number of children in non-working households for the final quarter of 2013. Additional metadata: - Licence: http://reference.data.gov.uk/id/open-government-licence
In 2023/24, 26.4 percent of children in the United Kingdom were defined as living in absolute poverty, compared with 16.9 percent of working-age adults, 13.2 percent of pensioners, and 20 percent of families where someone is disabled.