TUC analysis shows the number of kids living in poverty in London increased from 397,500 in 2010 to 523,700 in 2023

London has suffered a 32% increase in child poverty for working households, according to new Trades Union Congress (TUC) analysis.

The analysis shows that, for households with at least one parent in work, the number of kids living in poverty in London increased from 397,500 in 2010 to 523,700 in 2023 – a rise of 126,200 or 32%.

More than one in four (28.4%) kids in working households in London are now growing up in poverty.

The TUC says that a “toxic combination” of wage stagnation, rising insecure work and cuts to social security has had a “devastating impact” on family budgets.

Real wages are still worth less today than in 2008. And the TUC body estimates that, if wages had grown at their pre-financial crisis trend since 2010, the average worker would be over £14,000 a year better off.

Separate analysis from the TUC shows that the number of people in insecure work has increased by nearly one million during the Conservatives’ time in office to a record 4.1 million.

TUC regional spokesperson Sam Gurney said: “No child in London should be growing up in poverty.

“But under the Conservatives we have seen a huge in rise in working families being pushed into hardship.

“A toxic combination of pay stagnation, rising insecure work and cuts to social security has had a devastating impact on family budgets.

“We urgently need an economic reset and a government that will make work pay. Reducing child poverty must be a priority in the years ahead.”

The figures used are for the government’s relative low-income measure of child poverty, with a household income threshold set at 60% of median income after housing costs. The analysis uses the UK Family Resources Survey (FRS) to estimate child poverty. This is the same source as the UK government uses in its official Households Below Average Income (HBAI) poverty statistics.

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