Churches and other faith organisations are being invited to partner with the government in tackling child poverty.
The Department for Work and Pensions’ first baseline report on the government’s 10-year Child Poverty Strategy found that four million children across the UK - 27% of the total - were living in relative poverty after housing costs in 2024/25.
The figure remained the same as in 2023/2024 and represented an increase of 700,000 children compared with 2010/11.
A further 1.9 million children, or 13%, were considered to be living in “deep material poverty” because their families could not afford several basic necessities, including adequate food, heating or housing. That total fell by around 100,000 compared with the previous year.
The report, ‘Our Children, Our Future: Tackling Child Poverty - Monitoring and Evaluation Baseline Report,’ sets out how ministers intend to measure progress under the strategy, which was launched in December 2025.
It identifies faith organisations as important partners in delivering localised support and reaching families who may struggle to engage with public services because of their local presence, trusted relationships and experience supporting vulnerable families.
The government said reducing child poverty would require cooperation between central and local government, businesses, voluntary organisations, faith communities and people with lived experience of poverty.
In the report’s foreword, Minister of State for Employment Dame Diana Johnson and Minister for Early Education Olivia Bailey said child poverty continued to have “a profound and enduring impact on children’s lives today and their future, limiting opportunity and life chances”.
“To build a stronger, more prosperous Britain, we must prioritise addressing child poverty,” they wrote, adding that the government was committed to delivering “more security, more opportunity, and more respect for every family and every community across the UK”.
Faith and civil society organisations were described as “trusted partners” that can build relationships with families, respond to local needs and help ensure support reaches those who are harder to engage.
The report calls for faith groups to work alongside local authorities and other organisations to develop initiatives tailored to their communities, test new approaches and strengthen support for children and families.
It says poverty is shaped by local factors including employment opportunities, childcare, housing, transport and access to community services, meaning solutions will need to reflect the circumstances of individual areas.
There are significant regional differences across the UK.
In Wales, almost a third of children (32%) were classed as living in relative poverty after housing costs, compared with 29% in England, 21% in Scotland and 19% in Northern Ireland.
At local authority level in England, the 40 areas with the highest levels all recorded child poverty levels over 30%, while levels in the 40 lowest areas were under 15%.
The government said this variation underlined the importance of charities, community and faith organisations working with local leaders to identify gaps in provision and develop effective responses.
The Churchworks Commission welcomed the report, saying there was “a clear opportunity for churches to get involved”.
Measures already introduced by the government include scrapping the two-child limit for Universal Credit, which the government estimates will lift 450,000 children out of poverty.
The policy was implemented in April as the Universal Credit standard allowance rose by 6.2% above inflation.
The government has also widened eligibility for free school meals to all children in households receiving Universal Credit from the 2026/27 academic year in the hopes that it will reduce the number of children living in poverty by a further 100,000.
Other measures include the creation of a Crisis and Resilience Fund, additional Best Start Family Hubs, increased Healthy Start payments, housing reforms and programmes aimed at reducing energy and childcare costs.
Official projections suggest that the number of children living in relative poverty could drop from 4 million to 3.6 million by 2029/30, equivalent to a reduction from 27% to 25%.
However, the report acknowledged that tackling the underlying causes of poverty would require “sustained, collective effort” over the full 10 years of the strategy.
Progress will be monitored through annual reports, policy evaluations and a new four-year study following parents and carers who are living in, or at risk of, poverty.
The government also plans to develop more place-based approaches with local-level partners, and research selected local areas to examine which approaches are most effective and how services can better meet the needs of families.
The report said the voices of children and families experiencing poverty would remain central to that process.
It is inviting churches, charities and other organisations to share evidence of successful local initiatives, barriers facing families and ways to improve the government’s approach.
