What it means: children living in households with less than 60% of the typical (median) income once rent or mortgage costs are paid. This is the most widely used UK measure of child poverty. From 2021/22 the survey is linked to benefit and tax records, which gives more accurate incomes, so earlier years are not exactly comparable; 2020/21 was affected by Covid. The government's Child Poverty Strategy of December 2025 estimates its measures will lift 550,000 children out of poverty by the end of the parliament; this is a forecast rather than a formal target, so the status compares with the year before, where one point or more counts.

Source: DWP, households below average income 1994/95 to 2024/25, table 1.4a, UK (Great Britain before 2002/03).