A national child poverty charity says that over 18,000 children are living below the poverty line in Cornwall, costing an estimated £196 million a year.

The local authority estimates, produced by Donald Hirsch of Loughborough University, are contained in a new report by Child Poverty Action Group on how local authorities are trying to tackle child poverty at a time of social security cuts and upheaval.

The report, Local Authorities and Child Poverty: Balancing Threats with Opportunities, is launched today at a CPAG conference in Birmingham aimed at assisting local authorities fulfil their obligations under the Child Poverty Act to implement effective local child poverty strategies. 

Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: “We always put our children first in family life, and it’s right that we should do so in our local communities too. Every council is required by law to have a local child poverty strategy, and the good news is that reducing child poverty benefits everyone by cutting the costs to local authority services and boosting the local economy through improved skills and qualifications for school leavers.

“Today we are publishing a report to help guide authorities on the challenges they face and the actions they can take to protect families in their area against poverty and many residents will be shocked to hear that so many local children are living in poverty. We hope that local campaigners will be able to use our report to encourage their local councillors to do more to end child poverty in their area and support the families facing the greatest hardship.

Thefull report is below.

CPAG-local-authorities-child-pov-0713-amended_0.pdf