Poverty: Children

Statistics on the number and proportion of children living in relative poverty, including in parliamentary constituencies, are published annually in the Children in low income families: local area statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2022-to-2025.

Our UK wide Child Poverty Strategy sets out immediate action to reduce child poverty while delivering the foundations for long-term change. This includes removing the Universal Credit two-child limit, which is expected to lift 450,000 children out of relative poverty in the final year of this Parliament. As of April 2026, an estimated 1,810 children in Hamilton and Clyde Valley were living in Universal Credit households likely to benefit from this change.

Taken alongside other measures, the strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty in 2029/30, which is expected to lead to the largest reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began. We have also delivered the first sustained above-inflation increase in the Universal Credit standard allowance, reduced Universal Credit deductions through the Fair Repayment Rate, are investing in employment and skills support to help people move into and progress in work.

We worked closely with the devolved governments during the development of the Child Poverty Strategy and will continue to engage with them as part of its ongoing delivery.