One in 10 children in Trafford living in ‘absolute’ poverty

The latest figures from a Trafford Council health and wellbeing board report state 5,051 children under the age of 16 are living in ‘absolute’ low income households – defined as households that have less than 60 per cent of the current median household income to live on after housing costs.

A further 6,230 live in ‘relative’ low income households.

Across Greater Manchester, there are 123,529 children living in absolute poverty and 151,064 in relative poverty.

In total across England, there are 1,685,298 children in absolute low income homes and 2,065,267 in relative low income homes.

For Trafford, it means 10 per cent of the borough’s children are living in absolute poverty and 12.3 per cent are on the borderline.

But the picture is very different in different areas of the borough.

According to the same report, Trafford’s child poverty rate soars to 44 per cent in one small area of the borough, despite Trafford being the most well-off area of Greater Manchester.

The document said: “Trafford is the least deprived authority in Greater Manchester – only 5.7 per cent of small areas in Trafford rank in the 10 per cent most deprived in England. However, children who live in these areas tend to fare worst on a range of indicators of health and wellbeing.

“The Income Deprivation Affecting Children domain of the 2019 Indices suggests that 11.7 per cent of Trafford 0-15 year olds are living in poverty, but this rises to 44 per cent in one small area.”

The exact area affected is not named in the report.

Trafford Council has recently established a poverty truth commission that is seeking views and input from those who have lived experience of poverty to try and tackle the issue across the borough.

The group is set to meet regularly to discuss the challenges and potential solutions to living close to or below the breadline and the associated problems, which will in turn be used to inform the council’s and other public bodies’ approaches to the issues.