WALES has the highest rate of children living in poverty in the UK, a study has found.

But none of the top 20 most affected areas in the UK are in Wales, the research by the End Child Poverty Coalition found.

The study found that the North East of England has shown the biggest rise in child poverty rates in the past five years, which it claimed was fuelled by stagnating family incomes.

In London, rising housing costs are pushing many families to the brink, the coalition said.

There were eight constituencies where more than half of all children were living in poverty – defined as a family living on 60 per cent of the median national income after housing costs.

Of the UK nations, Wales has the highest rate of children living in poverty (31 per cent), followed by England (30 per cent), with Scotland and Northern Ireland equal on 24 per cent.

Even before the pandemic, the study by Loughborough University found that 4.3 million children were living in poverty in 2019/2020, up 200,000 from the previous year and up 500,000 over the past five years.

The most-affected areas were in major cities – particularly London and Birmingham, which have 17 of the worst 20 constituencies in the UK.

Three in four children living in poverty in 2019/20 were from households with at least one working adult, up from two in three in 2014/15.

North East England showed the biggest growth in child poverty over the past five years, rising by more than one third, taking it from below the UK average to the second highest of any region.

The coalition said much of the increase happened in 2019 to 2020 when low-paid workers were pushed below the poverty line by freezes to their in-work benefits.

Vikki Waterman, a single mother of two from Durham who works full time as a dentist’s administrator, said: “Too many of us in the North East work twice as hard for half as much.

“We’re not living, we’re just about surviving.”

The End Child Poverty Coalition – which includes charities, trade unions and faith groups – called on the Government to increase child benefits and said the planned £20 cut to Universal Credit in October should be revoked.

Coalition chair Anna Feuchtwang said: “The figures speak for themselves – the situation for children couldn’t be starker.

“We all want to live in a society where children are supported to be the best they can be, but the reality is very different for too many.”

The coalition said 60 per cent of median income for a family of one adult and one child, after housing costs, would be £223 a week in 2019/20, £280 for one adult and two children, or £400 for a family of two adults and two children.

The survey’s data for 2019/20 do not take into account the affects of the pandemic, which will be shown in next year’s figures.

Here are the 20 worst constituencies for child poverty according to the research:

1. Bethnal Green and Bow (Greater London), 59.6 per cent

2. Hackney South and Shoreditch (Greater London), 56.3 per cent

3. Birmingham Ladywood, 54.5 per cent

4. Birmingham Hall Green, 54.3 per cent

5. Birmingham Hodge Hill, 52 per cent

6. Vauxhall (Greater London), 51.6 per cent

7. West Ham (Greater London), 51.2 per cent

8. Poplar and Limehouse (Greater London), 50.6 per cent

9. East Ham (Greater London), 50 per cent

10. Walthamstow (Greater London), 49.8 per cent

=11. Birmingham Perry Barr, 48.9 per cent

=11. Barking (Greater London), 48.9 per cent

13. Warley (West Midlands), 47.8 per cent

14. Tottenham (Greater London), 47.6 per cent

15. Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Greater London), 47.4 per cent

16. Bradford West (West Yorkshire), 47.3 per cent

17. Walsall South (West Midlands), 47.1 per cent

18. Manchester Gorton, 46.8 per cent

19. Bradford East (West Yorkshire), 46.7 per cent

20. Holborn and St Pancras (Greater London), 46.4 per cent