DAMNING DATA SUGGESTS 32% OF CHILDREN IN SALFORD’S MOST DEPRIVED AREA ARE LIVING IN POVERTY

22% of children in Salford live in poverty, while Ordsall ward contains the highest child poverty rates in the borough with 32% of all children there living in poverty.

Data published today from Greater Manchester Poverty Action (GMPA) reveals that the cost of living crisis is already compounding high levels of poverty across Salford. 

The average child poverty rate across Greater Manchester is 25%

22% of children in Salford are living below the poverty line

The ward with the highest child poverty rate is Ordsall ward where 32% of all children are living in poverty

15% of Salford residents are experiencing fuel poverty

9% of people in the borough are struggling with food insecurity As the UK’s cost of living crisis deepens, more and more people – including children – are finding it difficult to make ends meet.

GMPA’s Poverty Monitor has discovered that the average child poverty rate across Greater Manchester is 25%, while Salford is lower at 22%, the statistic that 32% of children in Ordsall ward are living in poverty is shocking.

As energy costs soar, families across Greater Manchester are having to choose between heating their homes and eating.

GMPA’s Poverty Monitor shows that 15% of Salford residents are in fuel poverty and 9% are struggling with food insecurity – figures that are expected to increase in October when energy prices rise again.

The increasing costs of living, benefits not keeping up with inflation and the removal of the £20 universal credit uplift has forced more people in Salford into poverty and into ‘in-work poverty’ – whereby many families are turning to foodbanks despite being in paid, full-time work.

Graham Whitham, CEO of Greater Manchester Poverty Action, said:

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“GMPA’s Poverty Monitor highlights a high number of children in Salford that are living in poverty. At GMPA we work to prevent and reduce poverty by campaigning for a real living wage, advising local authorities and the combined authority on anti-poverty strategies and offering practical help to people through our money advice referral tool.

Our vision is of a Greater Manchester free from poverty, and while we do all we can locally we are seeing more and more people, and children struggling.”

our data shows we have a growing Greater Manchester and nationwide poverty emergency.

We urgently need a national anti-poverty strategy to help people in poverty.”

 

Paul Dennett, Leader of Salford Council said:

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"It's a damning indictment of the government's levelling up agenda, that those areas such as Ordsall which were at the heart of the industrial revolution - and one of the biggest losers from deindustrialisation under Thatcher - 40 years on are still amongst the poorest areas of the country.

This country's economic model does not work. We need a serious government led economic plan to bring industry and prosperity back to regions of our country who have been forgotten for so long."