New official figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show that the number of people living in the UK in absolute poverty has risen over the past two years. There are now 10.6 million people in absolute poverty, up from 9.7 million in 2012.
The number of children living in absolute poverty has risen from 3.6 million in 2012, to 4.1 million now – showing that we are still on course for this will be the first decade since records began not to see a fall in absolute child poverty. Alan Milburn, who now chairs the the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, recently said that “the gap between the objective of making child poverty history and the reality is becoming ever wider”.
However, the Government claim the figures are a success, showing that poverty has fallen, with the number of people living in relative poverty dropping by 100,000.
More from LabourList
Local elections: Party claims council tax £300 lower in Labour councils than Tory
Union leaders demand answers over Labour handling of online selection votes
Selections, disablism code of conduct and BAME Labour – Labour NEC report