Why tackling child poverty needs more than increasing family incomes

Credit: zinkevych via Adobe Stock.

18 November 2025

By Claire Cameron

Child poverty currently affects almost one in three children in the UK. Rates are higher among larger families, lone parents, Black and Asian households, and those raising a child with disabilities, as well as in some locations such as parts of London, where the figure rises above 40%. With the government’s child poverty review under way and a growing body of analysis suggesting that lifting the two-child welfare cap would in particular make a significant difference, it’s a critical moment to reflect on what poverty really means for children.

Behind these numbers are real families navigating impossible choices – whether to heat their homes, pay rent, or put food on the table. Poverty restricts choice and opportunity, undermining children’s health, wellbeing, education and life chances. Understanding what life looks like for those affected is essential if policy is to deliver genuine change. A new UCL Press book, Urban Childhoods: Growing up in Inequality and Hope, does just this, bringing together the voices of children and families.

There is recent experience of rates of child poverty, on official measures, falling: during the Covid-19 pandemic, rates fell when a £20-a-week uplift was applied to welfare payments, but they rose again when that support was withdrawn in 2021. As the Chancellor prepares the next Budget, lifting family incomes would not only transform children’s lives but strengthen communities. However, the Urban Childhoods findings remind us that children depend not only on family income but on the strength and design of their local environments. Tackling child poverty must include investing in communities – making homes healthier, streets safer and public spaces more child-friendly.

Urban Childhoods covers two inner-city areas: Tower Hamlets in London and Bradford in West Yorkshire. It finds families facing the overlapping pressures of insecure work, poor-quality and overcrowded housing, plus limited access to affordable childcare and local services. There are many dimensions to how this plays out in day-to-day experience:

• Families can be suddenly tipped into poverty, whether by illness, accidents, or economic shocks such as Covid-19.
• Homes in need of retrofitting and upgrading impact mental and physical health.
• Lack of space to play, broken lifts, and unsafe communal areas restrict children’s everyday freedoms, impacting their health and development.
• In some cases, families experience high levels of loneliness, though the social support offered through community and faith networks can ease this.

When children and parents are asked what matters to them, they speak powerfully about safety, play and belonging. In particular, the children we spoke to wanted the following:

• Cleaner, greener spaces with less rubbish and more plants.
• Safe places to play, walk and cycle.
• Fewer cars and less pollution.
• Homes that meet their needs and aspirations, including sufficient space and quality.

These are not abstract ideas; they are clear, actionable insights from the people who live with the effects of poverty every day.

And we can point to examples of where such insights have been used to make a real difference to families. In Bradford, young children have informed the local authority’s policy to promote outdoor play, importantly, embedding this in the way of thinking across departments. As shown on the Future Bradford website, the results are striking.

Where space for play is limited, children’s healthy development demands ‘designing-in’ opportunities for physically active play, not just in playgrounds but along streets and walkways, slowing traffic speeds to create ‘play on the way’. Reclaiming streets for children’s health and wellbeing involves reallocating road space in residential and school areas. A strong policy lead is needed, and Bradford is showing the way, creating an open playable space in the middle of the city.

In Tower Hamlets, Urban Childhoods researchers are continuing to influence local authority decision making through exchanges that emphasise the need for joined up policies and ways of working to improve the quality of children’s lives. Families need support whether dealing with damp, finding space to play and study or accommodating medical equipment to manage disabilities.

At the Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU), our research continues to shine a light on children’s lived experiences, using their perspectives to inform better policy and practice. By listening to children and families and understanding the realities they face, we can help shape fairer, more supportive environments in which every child can thrive.