Child Poverty Worst in North West, finds Church Urban Fund

5 September 2012

Children’s life expectancy up to 15 years lower than in other communities

 

Around two thirds of children living in parts of Manchester, Liverpool and Newcastle are being born into poverty, according to new findings from Church Urban Fund, with life expectancy up to 15 years lower than in the least deprived communities. 

 

Using published government data, Church Urban Fund found that, in parts of Manchester, such as Moss Side, child poverty levels were as high as 65% with life expectancy for boys as low as 69. In areas of Toxteth, Liverpool, the child poverty rate was at 64% and life expectancy for boys just 67.

 

Church Urban Fund, a Church of England charity working to tackle poverty in England, used its recently-launched poverty mapping tool to identify the communities in England where child poverty is at its most prevalent. Based on the CofE parish system, the tool allows anyone to calculate their local community’s level of deprivation as well as its regional and national ranking, using a combination of Government poverty indicators including life expectancy and child poverty.

 

Paul Hackwood, the Chair of Trustees at Church Urban Fund said:

 

“The deep-rooted unfairness in our society is highlighted by these stark statistics. Children being born in this country, just a few miles apart, couldn’t witness a more wildly differing start to life.  In child poverty terms, we live in one of the most unequal countries in the western world. We want people to understand where their own community sits alongside neighbouring communities. The disparity is often shocking but it’s crucial that, through greater awareness, people from all backgrounds come together to think about what could be done to support those born into poverty.”

 

Church Urban Fund works with the leaders of over 300 projects across England, helping the poorest and most marginalised in society.  The projects they support are focussed on the most deprived communities in the country and include fuel poverty advice services, debt counselling and youth education projects.

 

ENDS

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Notes to Editors: 

		Child poverty	Life expectancy for boys (years)
Moss side: St James with St Clement	Manchester	65%	71
Toxteth: St Margaret	Liverpool	64%	67
Newcastle: St Luke	Newcastle	63%	71
Toxteth: St Clement	Liverpool	62%	69
Broughton: The Ascension	Manchester	61%	70
Highgate	Birmingham	61%	70
Sheffield: St Matthew	Sheffield	60%	72
Broxtowe	Nottingham	60%	72
Toxteth: St Bede	Liverpool	60%	69
Salford: St Paul with Christ Church	Manchester	59%	69

Definition of child poverty:  Proportion of children living in families in receipt of out of work benefits or tax credits where their reported income is less than 60% of median household income (a commonly accepted measure of poverty).

 The poverty tool is available to use online at: http://www.cuf.org.uk/povertyinengland

All the indicators are derived from published government data sets. Data for local authority wards or census output areas were converted to parish data by the Church of England’s Research and Statistics division. The term ‘Communities’, as used in the press release, refers to Church of England Parishes.

Parish figures have been calculated by converting data on government boundaries onto parish boundaries.  In very diverse areas this calculation process may lead to inconsistent figures and should be tested with knowledge of what is known on the ground.  Where parish populations are sparse the figures for government areas overlapping the parish are used.

When analysing data, it is important to consider that the population of some parishes is very small and so the percentages may be high even though relatively few households are affected. Other than the overall deprivation measure, data for parishes with populations of less than 500 have been omitted.

For further information please contact:                   Church Urban Fund Media Team

                                                                                                            CUF@luther.co.uk

                                                                                                            0207 618 9177

About Church Urban Fund:

Church Urban Fund is about Christians tackling poverty together to transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalised in England. It was established in 1987.

Church Urban Fund works with over 300 community projects. These projects offer debt counselling, family support, children’s after-school and breakfast clubs, parenting advice, addiction advice and residential treatment, mental health support, food banks, help with re-housing, advocacy, befriending and mentoring with young people, job clubs and skills training, community development and support for elderly or disabled people.

For further information please go to www.cuf.org.uk.