The number of children living in poverty fell to 3.5million in 2003/4, one hundred thousand less than in the previous year, according to new official figures.
The period covered by the figures, April 2003-March 2004, was the first year of operation of the Child Tax Credit and the Working Tax credit
Paul Dornan, head of policy at the Child Poverty Action Group, said that the data did show that tax credits had brought about “real improvements” in the living standards of poorer children but that more needed to be done to meet the government’s child poverty targets.
“More political effort is essential. Greater financial resources devoted to children and to tackling child poverty are needed to stay on track to eradicate child poverty by 2020,” he said.
The Households Below Average Income figures were released by the Department for Work and Pensions and cover the period 1994/5 to 2003/4. They are available from: www.dwp.gov.uk.
