MORE than 5,000 children are living in poverty in Basingstoke and Deane, figures show.

Statistics from children’s charity Action for Children show that 22.4 per cent – or seven children in every class of 30 – were living in poverty in 2020/21, which are the most recent figures available.

The charity has launched an online ‘child hardship tool’ which provides insight into different constituency areas allowing people to search by postcode.

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For Basingstoke and Deane, the percentage of children in poverty increased by 1.9 per centage points between 2014/15 and 2020/21.

The toolkit shows that 17 per cent of children in the borough (31,285) are from a disadvantaged background making them eligible for free school meals.

There were more than 10,000 food bank parcels distributed in Basingstoke and Deane by charity the Trussell Trust in 2021/22, which was an increase by 11 per cent compared to 2019/20.

Imran Hussain, director of policy and campaigns at Action for Children, said: “To improve the lives and life chances of all children we need to be honest about why so many are growing up in poverty and hardship. And we must confront the myth that everyone in poverty can simply work their way out of it.

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“Our recent report shows that when it comes to supporting families in financial distress, work is simply not the silver bullet it is often presented as.

“We need more realism and less rhetoric from government in how we talk about the relationship between poverty and work. And we need a social safety net that ensures families can meet their essential costs and restores the link between a family’s needs and the support that is available to them.”

David Lawrence, Labour's parliamentary candidate in Basingstoke, said he was “shocked” by the figures and said: “Families in Basingstoke are struggling to get by.”

He added: “I was shocked to find out that our town has over 5,000 children in poverty. That’s over one in five, which is really concerning, at a time when food and energy bills are reaching record highs.”

To see the full set of figures click here.