Children's Poverty

Notes on data

The indicators of child poverty used in this section come from a variety of sources.

Children in poverty
The estimates of ‘Children in poverty’ came from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The definition of child poverty used was ‘Number of children living in families in receipt of CTC whose reported income is less than 60 per cent of the median income or in receipt of IS or (Income-Based) JSA, divided by the total number of children in the area (determined by Child Benefit data)’

These estimates are aggregations of small area estimates of the proportion of children in poverty to a local authority level.  However, for National Statistics data on child poverty at a regional level, please refer to the Department of Work and Pensions' Households Below Average Income publications which use the relative child poverty measure as set out in the Child Poverty Act 2010.  The small area estimates are not directly comparable with the national figures.

Children in workless households
The data used was taken from the Annual Population Survey.  For this indicator, children refers to children under 16 and those between 16 and 18 in full-time education and ‘workless’ refers to adults who are either unemployed or inactive for other reasons.

Dependent children living in households where at least one adult has a disability
This indicator is based on data from the Scottish Household Survey. The definition of dependent children in the Scottish Household Survey is children aged 0-15 yrs and children of 16-18 yrs who are in full-time education.

Dependent children in households experiencing financial difficulties
The full description of the indicator used was Dependent children living in households with working age adults who report that they are experiencing financial difficulties. 

This indicator is based on data from the Scottish Household Survey.  The definition of dependent children in the Scottish Household Survey is children aged 0-15 yrs and children of 16-18 yrs who are in full-time education.

Births to vulnerable groups
The birth related indicators were derived from birth registrations in the period 2007-2011 recorded by National Records of Scotland (NRS), formerly GRO(S).

Relative poverty

Relative child poverty is defined as children living in households where income is below 60 percent of median income, before Housing Costs.

Additional note on vulnerability to severe poverty

Save the Children have provided an insight into groups most at risk of severe poverty in their publication Severe Child Poverty: An Update. These groups include:

  • Children in workless families 
  • Children in lone parent households
  • Children living in social rented accomodation*
  • Children living in a family with a disabled adult 
  • Children living with young parents aged under 25 years
  • Households with three or more children* 
  • Children with Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black African backgrounds*

Indicators have been presented, where possible, that relate to the above ‘at risk’ groups.  A star (*) in the list given above indicates where it has not been possible to find a relevant indicator.

There is currently no official measure of severe child poverty.