North-east England overtakes London as UK’s child poverty hotspot

Almost two-fifths of children in north-east live in poverty after a decade of decline as campaigners warn of worse to come

The north-east of England has the highest rate of child poverty of anywhere in the UK, for the first time overtaking London as the nation's hotspot for hardship and deprivation, new analysis shows.

Although the latest UK-wide figures show child poverty rates overall fell slightly in the first year of the pandemic due to the temporary 20 weekly uplift to universal credit, detailed breakdown shows child poverty continued to rise in areas like Sunderland, Newcastle and Middlesbrough.