Quarter of children in Derry and Strabane living in poverty

More than one in five children are living in poverty in 10 out of the 11 local council areas in the North, new research has revealed. 

Derry City and Strabane District Council ranks third behind Belfast (27.8%) and Newry, Mourne and Down (25.8%), with 25.3% of children here living in poverty. Lisburn and Castlereagh ranked lowest at 19.4%.

In terms of Westminster constituencies, 20% of children across the North are living in poverty in 16 out of the 18 constituencies.

25.4% of children in the Foyle constituency were living in poverty - the fourth highest number in the North behind Belfast West (32.9%), Belfast North (31.1%), and Newry and Armagh (30.1%). North Down was the constituency with the lowest level of child poverty - 19.6%. The average figure across the North was 24.3%

The research was carried out by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Coalition (ECPC) which comprises 135 organisations including child welfare groups, social justice groups, faith groups, trade unions and others. 

According to the Coalition, the 2023/24 statistics mean “families may be using food banks to feed their children, children foregoing extra-curricular activities and school trips, children going without warm clothes in winter, or living in cold or unsafe housing."

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Speaking to The Derry News, Becca Bor, the development co-ordinator of the NI Anti-Poverty Network said no child in the North should have to experience poverty.

“We know targeted policies work,” added Ms Bor, “so government must urgently address child poverty, so that another generation of children will not be growing up in poverty.

“The government’s strategy to tackle child poverty must invest in struggling households, to support families so that their children can thrive. As a first step, the UK government must scrap the two-child limit to benefit payments, a policy which continues to pull children into poverty every day.”

The ECPC research used a Relative After Housing Costs measure of child poverty. 

'After Housing Costs’ shows the income available to a household once rent, water rates, mortgage interest payments, building insurance payments, ground rent and service charges are paid. 

It enables a more accurate comparison of what households have available to spend on food, utilities, clothing and leisure, than looking at income alone, given the disparity of rents in different parts of Britain.