Poverty won't fix itself - organised labour must act

It shouldn't be like this. The trauma of poverty blights millions of lives. The long-term harm caused by poverty cascades across society. It is time for decisive action to combat poverty and its causes.

The facts are brutal, the problem is huge, and poverty is everywhere

11.9 million people in the UK live in poverty.

The shortage of low-cost homes makes the crisis worse. 14.7 million people in the UK live in poverty after their housing costs are met.

About 4 million youngsters, 27 percent of all children, live in households that earn less than 60 percent of the national median income - the poverty threshold – roughly £19,200 a year for a household in 2025, once Income Tax, National Insurance and Benefits had been accounted for.

2.9 million, nearly three-quarters of children who live in poverty, live in households where at least one adult works.

2.8 million children live in deep poverty, in households with incomes of less than 40 percent of the median household income.

London has the UK's highest regional level of child poverty, 38 percent.

But child poverty is endemic; 32 percent in North West England and in the West Midlands, and 30 percent in the North East. The South-West has the lowest child poverty rate in England, but it is still more than 1 in 5, at 21 percent. 1.6 million children in London, the South East, and the East of England live in poverty. Find the figures here.

The most extreme concentrations of hardship are in London. At council level the highest child poverty rates in England are found in three boroughs in east London: Tower Hamlets 50.3 percent, Hackney 50.1 percent and Newham 44.9 percent. The local authority area in the East of England with the highest level of child poverty is Luton, 40.4 percent. And the local authority in the South East with the worst level of child poverty is Thanet, 34.8 percent. Measured by parliamentary constituency, the child poverty rate in Hackney North and Stoke Newington in inner London, 60.2 percent, and it is the highest in the UK.

Some commentators try to spin the UK's poverty crisis as a simple North-South Divide question. But no community in the UK is immune, no matter how affluent, as the percentage of children living in poverty in communities is almost never below 10 percent. Our economy simply isn't working for millions of people, and this is true of every community, region and nation in the UK.

Work ought to be, not merely a way out of poverty, but a source of dignity and part of a structured career. But for millions of people low paid, insecure and poor-quality work is a route into poverty, not a route out of it.

Every region deserves investment in skills, education, infrastructure, health and decent homes for all, as the basis of an economy that works for all. Anyone who simplistically wishes that their regional economy was 'more like London' needs to beware London's 800,000 children living in poverty, London's homes crisis, with tenants often spending more than half their income on housing and more than 70,000 households in temporary accommodation, and of London's 18 percent of 18-24s unemployed.

Five steps the Labour government has taken to reduce child poverty

The lifting of the two-child cap, from 6 April 2026, benefited up to 1.5 million children, and is expected to lift 450,000 children out of poverty.

National Living Wage increased to £12.71 from 1 April 2026, it is a vital lifeline for millions of workers.

The annual increase in welfare benefits, including Universal Credit and Child Benefit.

The expansion of free school meals to all children in households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026 will benefit half a million children, potentially saving £495 a year on school lunches per child.

The impact of the Employment Rights Act, beginning with the new right to sick pay, and the Fair Work Agency – making work pay for all. From 6 April 2026 up to 9.6 million workers can benefit from stronger statutory sick pay, and sick pay for all from day one of an illness.

The union movement must step up too

Years of research, reasoned argument and lobbying won us the Employment Rights Act, the biggest upgrade of employment and collective rights in decades. But to maximise the potential and make a 'New Deal for All Working People' a reality the union movement has core tasks:

Make workers aware of their new rights and more confident in securing them.

Getting more workers to join a union and raising members' level of activity.

Strengthening union organisation and winning union campaigns for fair pay.

Making the case for stronger unions as a core part of a modern and thriving economy that leaves no-one behind.

Nelson Mandela wrote "Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice... Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great". It is time for us to shine.

For the latest poverty statistics see the Households Below Average Income report.

For London specific statistics see London Poverty profile.