Locally:
- More than one in four children in Bristol are living in poverty and struggle to get three full meals a day (BP 2018)
- In Lawrence Hill (Barton Hill) more than half of the children (51 per cent) come from families who fight to make ends meet (BP 2018)
- Lawrence Hill (Barton Hill) is within the most deprived 10% in England (BCC 2019)
- There’s a 40% increased premature mortality in Lawrence Hill (Barton Hill) compared to the average in Bristol (BCC 2019)
- A national survey found that more than 60% of families with a household income below £25,000 were not always able to afford food in the school holidays, rising to 73% for those earning under £15,000. School holidays are particularly difficult times for families when free school meals are no longer available. 78% of parents on low household incomes believe a community holiday club would ease their stress.(FB 2016)
In the UK:
Annual poverty statistics for the year leading up to the pandemic (Households Below Average Income 2019- 2020) shows:
- 200,000 more children fell into relative poverty (after housing costs) in 2019-2020 – twice the increase in the previous year. That means 4.3 million children (31% of all UK children) are in poverty – up from 3.6 million in 2010-11.
- 51% of all children in poverty are in families with a youngest child aged under five
- 75% of poor children lived in working families in 2019-20 up from 72% in 2018-19, and 12% of poor children had a self-employed parent.
- Poor families have fallen deeper into poverty: 2.9 million children were in deep poverty (i.e. with a household income below 50% of AHC equivalised median income) 600,000 more than in 2010/11
- 1.7 million children went hungry because their family could not afford enough food
- 49% of lone parents are now in poverty (up from 44% in 2018-19)
- 47% of children in families with 3 or more children were in poverty, up from 43% the year before and 36% a decade earlier.
St Luke's Lunch 