Child poverty
Our ambition is for Nottinghamshire to be a place where children grow up free from deprivation and disadvantage, and birth and social background do not hold people back from achieving their potential.
We will work together to reduce levels of child poverty and to mitigate the effects of child poverty on children, young people and families, as well as on future generations.
We will compare our progress in reducing child poverty levels with our statistical neighbours and national progress.
Why tackling poverty matters
Many people believe there is very little child poverty in the UK today, but this is not the case - currently 19.9% of children in England live in relative poverty
Poverty damages childhoods - some families cannot, for example, afford to keep their homes warm or pay for basic necessities and activities, such as three meals a day, school uniforms or social outings.
Children who grow up in poverty lack many of the experiences and opportunities that others take for granted, and can be exposed to severe hardship and social exclusion. Their childhood suffers as a result and this is unacceptable.
Local child poverty data
A full needs assessment to understand the picture of child poverty in Nottinghamshire was published in March 2011 and the Child Poverty chapter of the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment was published in 2016.
The local child poverty measure is defined as 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 median income.
The following data provides just a flavour of some of the key issues for Children and Families across Nottinghamshire:
(a) In 2015, 14.7% of children in Nottinghamshire were living in low income families. 2015 data indicates that on average, there are fewer children in poverty in Nottinghamshire, than in England (16.6%), however data across districts are variable.
(b) In districts, there is wide variation in the percentage of children living in poverty. 2015 child poverty data ranks districts as follows:
- Ashfield (20.3%)
- Mansfield (19.3%)
- Bassetlaw (15.1%)
- Newark and Sherwood (14.6%)
- Gedling (13.2%)
- Broxtowe (12.5%)
- Rushcliffe (6.6%)
Wards:
Useful documents
- Nottinghamshire Child Poverty Strategy 2010 [PDF]
- Nottinghamshire Child Poverty Needs Assessment [PDF]
- Nottinghamshire Child Poverty Needs Assessment Executive Summary [PDF]
- Tackling Child Poverty Summary of Literature Review Findings [PDF]
- Working Together to Tackle Child Poverty in Nottinghamshire - Stakeholder Briefing [PDF]
- Food bank provision for families in North Nottinghamshire [PDF].
