Child Poverty - Rising Numbers of UK Children in Workless Households

Progress in reducing the percentage of children living in workless households seems to have been reversed according to newly-released data.

The UK has one of the highest rates of child poverty among all advanced high-income countries. There were 3.9 million children living in poverty in the UK in 2021. That’s 27% of children. 46% of children living in families with 3 or more children are in poverty.

Workless households are households where no one aged 16 years or over is in employment. These members may be unemployed or economically inactive.

In 2021, 1.1 million children (8.9%) lived in long-term workless households. The highest percentage of children in long-term workless households was in the Northeast (16.8%).

63% of children in workless households lived with one or more disabled adults