The neighbourhood where two thirds of kids live in poverty

As many as two thirds of children are living in poverty in Greater Manchester’s most deprived neighbourhood.

In the Oldham area of Coldhurst, two out of every three children (66 per cent) were living in poverty, in the year ending March 2024. That’s a total of 2,676 children.

Just 13 other areas in the entire UK had a higher proportion of children living in poverty.

Across Greater Manchester, a total of 188,549 children aged up to 15 were living in poverty in the last full year under Conservative rule, according to the latest figures from the Department of Work and Pensions.

And the UK-wide picture is even bleaker, with 4.5 million children living below the breadline - a record high. The figure includes an extra 121,000 youngsters compared to a year earlier - enough to fill Liverpool’s Anfield stadium twice over.

The Labour government says no child should be in poverty and they have an ‘ambitious strategy’ to deliver change.

But campaigners insist that scrapping the two-child benefit cap will be a crucial first step in addressing rising child poverty across the UK.

“By doing this the government could also see a boost to local economies, targeting some of the most deprived areas of the country,” says Joseph Howes, CEO of Buttle UK and chair of the End Child Poverty Coalition.

“We don’t want to see another year of families suffering as a result of the two-child limit. The government must scrap this policy as part of their soon to be published strategy to tackle child poverty”.

This April marked eight years since the introduction of the two-child benefit cap.

Figures from the End Child Poverty Coalition show that there is a link between the percentage of children living in poverty and the percentage of children impacted by