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Nearly two in five of Bolton's children live in poverty – placing it in the top 16 for disadvantaged households. An MP has called these figures “troubling”, but not “surprising”. The borough is placed 12 in the UK with over one third (37.
5%) of its youngsters under 16 living in poverty last year to March, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) has revealed. Yasmin Qureshi MP, who represents Bolton South and Walkden, blamed the problem on “14 years of austerity”. She said: “I am deeply troubled by these figures but unfortunately not surprised.
Fourteen years of austerity left towns like Bolton behind. “Upon entering Downing Street last year, one of the first things Keir Starmer did was set up a ministerial task force on child poverty; noting that poverty holds children back from reaching their full potential. “The new minimum wage has gone into effect, benefitting 370,000 people across the North West of England.
“Alongside this we are progressing new legislation to improve people’s rights in work , all of which will help bring families out of poverty caused by insecure and underpaid work.” Still, Bolton's youth poverty rates are growing with 578 more children in disadvantaged families last year than in 2023. Last year, it ranked just below Manchester and North West towns like Blackburn with Darwen and Oldham - which had over 41% of its under-16s below the breadline.
Pendle had the worst rate – with nearly 45 per cent of its children living in poverty. Across the country, youth poverty rates have continued to rise in the past three years. And the UK has seen 4.
45m children living in low-income families last year to March – the highest number since records began over 20 years ago. Oxfam said the figures, showing 30.5 per cent of children in the UK are in poverty, up slightly from 29.
9 per cent, are “as damning as they are heartbreaking”. But Oxfam domestic poverty lead, Dr Silvia Galandini, said: “Almost one in three children are living in poverty across the UK. “This is before brutal cuts where the Chancellor chose to remove vital security and safety from those who need it the most instead of taxing the super-rich.
” The Government has proposed a raft of welfare cuts which it has itself estimated will send 250,000 more people – and 50,000 children – into poverty. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has insisted the Government’s plans to support people into work “will result in more people having fulfilling careers paying decent wages and, of course, that’s the best way to lift families out of poverty”. Big Issue founder and crossbench peer Lord John Bird said the taskforce established last year by the Government to tackle child poverty must “expedite its long-promised strategy and urge the Chancellor to back its recommendations with real resource and finance”.
Meanwhile, the DWP data showed the total number of people in the UK estimated to be living in poverty was down slightly, to 14.25 million in 2023/24, from 14.32 million in the previous year.
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