Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the impact of the recent increase in inflation on the number of children in poverty; and what plans they have for protecting low income families against the rising cost of basic essentials.

Impacts of the latest increase in inflation on families with children have not been estimated.

However the Department’s latest Households Below Average Income statistics to 2016 published on 16th March 2017 does show how the number of children in low income households has changed with reference to inflation (the measure is called absolute low income). Since 2010, there has been a decrease of 200,000 children before housing costs (BHC) in absolute low income. After housing costs (AHC) had been taken into account, there were 100,000 fewer children in absolute low income since 2010.

In terms of proportions, there have also been reductions in the rates of absolute low income on both bases - BHC down by 2 percentage points, and AHC down by 1 percentage point since 2010.