Save The Chil­dren UK has released a new study that finds that the num­bers of chil­dren liv­ing in poverty has been ris­ing since 2004. This result is sim­i­lar to a study from the Joseph Rown­tree Foun­da­tion issued a few months ago.

Dur­ing the years of eco­nomic growth in the UK an addi­tional 260,000 chil­dren moved below the poverty line. Save the Chil­dren says that their research sug­gests that child poverty lev­els have stayed the same dur­ing the recession.

From this press release found at the Save The Chil­dren UK web­site, we read this sum­mary of the report’s con­clu­sions. The full report is avail­able to down­load.

Accord­ing to the research, com­mis­sioned from the New Pol­icy Insti­tute, an addi­tional 260,000 chil­dren were pushed into severe poverty dur­ing the four years of a UK eco­nomic boom, between 2004 and 2008. Our research indi­cates that this num­ber is likely to have stayed the same over the last two years, as the reces­sion has wiped out any progress that gov­ern­ment action may have achieved.

This means that 13% of the UK’s chil­dren now live in severe.

The reces­sion is likely to have increased severe poverty by a fur­ther 100,000 chil­dren but rises in tax cred­its and ben­e­fits are expected to have bought the num­bers back down to pre-recession fig­ures. But as unem­ploy­ment con­tin­ues to climb, there is a real dan­ger that the num­ber of chil­dren liv­ing in severe poverty could still rise even higher.

Eng­land accounts for the biggest increase in severe poverty, with more than 1.5 mil­lion chil­dren now liv­ing in fam­i­lies that earn 50% below the aver­age UK income and miss­ing out on daily essen­tials such as enough food and clothes. Lon­don is home to around one fifth of all chil­dren in severe poverty in the UK — over 300,000 chil­dren — the biggest pro­por­tion of any UK city.

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