'Heartbreaking': Record number of children in Ashfield now living in poverty

It comes as charities urged the Government to stop planned welfare reform, warning the changes will push more families into poverty.

Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show 6,691 children under-16 in Ashfield were living in relative poverty in the year to March – up from 6,353 the year before and the highest since comparable records began in 2013-14.

It meant 28 per cent of children in the area were in households whose income was below 60 per cent of the average income, and also claimed child benefit with at least one other household benefit.

Across the UK, 2.7m (22 per cent) children were living in relative poverty, including 217,155 (24 per cent) children in the East Midlands.

Save the Children warned that, without immediate action, ‘this could be the first Labour government that oversees a significant rise in child poverty – a record no one wants’ and described the latest data as ‘a source of national shame’.

The End Child Poverty coalition added the data should be seen as a ‘stark warning’ to Government, adding record-high numbers of children in poverty ‘isn't the change people voted for’.

The Government's own impact assessment estimated welfare reforms planned by Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP (Lab) could see 250,000 more people, including 50,000 children, fall into poverty by 2029-30.

However, the Chancellor told Sky News she is ‘absolutely certain’ her reforms will not push people into poverty.

She added: "We know that if you move from welfare into work, you are much less likely to be in poverty."

But charities urged a U-turn on the plans, saying the announced cuts to disability and incapacity benefits will ‘push more disabled people into poverty and worsen people’s health’.

Oxfam's domestic poverty lead, Dr Silvia Galandini, said: "These latest poverty figures are as damning as they are heartbreaking.

"This is before brutal cuts, where the Chancellor chose to remove vital security and safety from those who need it the most instead of taxing the super-rich.

"It is unconscionable that the Government is cutting social security while willfully ignoring the huge potential revenue of a tiny tax on the super-rich, one that is overwhelmingly backed by the British public."