Publication - Research and analysis
Tackling child poverty priority families overview
An overview of evidence on the six priority family types identified as being at higher risk of child poverty. Slide deck can be found in the supporting documents.
Families with three or more children
Key demographics
- 48% of all children in relative poverty live in a household with three or more children
- likely to live in a family that is in more than one priority group; many children in this group who are in relative poverty also have a disabled person in the household and/or live in a minority ethnic household
- almost one in three (33%) are also in a lone parent household
Income from employment
- parents in larger families likely to be out of the labour market for longer periods, which can limit their future employment opportunities
- the challenges of organising and paying for childcare increase with more children, potentially making it less financially viable to work or limiting hours worked
- at least one adult is already in paid work in the majority of families in this group
Costs of living
- the dramatic increase in living costs has clear impacts on larger households who already spend a greater proportion of their income on essentials
- early evidence that larger families are already struggling to maintain living standards. For example, families with three or more children are more likely to experience food insecurity than smaller families. They are also more likely to have used a food bank
Income from social security
- since 2013, changes to the UK benefits system have reduced the real value of social security benefits paid to low-income larger families and restricted their access to the benefits system
- benefit cap puts a limit on the amount that a family can claim on social security. This disproportionately affects households with more children that are likelier to be bound by the cap
- in 2026, the two-child cap was abolished, with hopes that this will pull as many as 20,000 children out of poverty
What works
- developing policies and interventions with an awareness of barriers larger families face
- addressing barriers around disproportionate impacts on benefit cuts and freezes
- supporting parents intro training and employment after longer breaks