Child poverty before housing costs in the Greater West of England (Dependent children, aged 0-19)

18 Mar 2026

This data insight describes levels, trends and geographic variation in child poverty before housing costs (BHC) across the Greater West of England, focusing on dependent children. A dependent child is defined as being aged 0-15, or aged 16-19 in full time education, living in a household and financially dependent on adults.

The data covers current child poverty rates, recent trends over time, with comparisons across the Greater West of England, combined authorities and the UK.

The Greater West of England is defined here as Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Gloucestershire, North Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Swindon and Wiltshire.

The analysis is based on the Department for Work and pensions (DWP) Children in Low Income Families (CiLIF) dataset, accessed via Stat-Xplore, which uses administrative tax and benefit records to estimate the number and proportion of dependent children living in low-income households. Rates are calculated as a percentage of the relevant child population cohort and exclude children in families with no recourse to public funds or those not living in private households. Child poverty is defined as the proportion of dependent children living in households below 60% of the contemporary median income, measured before housing costs.

Differences between percentages are given in percentage points (pp).

+5.7 pp

UK child poverty rate BHC (23.15%) is higher than the Greater West of England average (17.45%)

24.47%

Bristol has the highest child poverty rate BHC in the Greater West of England

17.45%

Greater West of England child poverty BHC reached its highest rate in 2023/24

38.1%

Child poverty in the West Midlands is more than double that in York and North Yorkshire (17.5%)

Child poverty before housing costs (ages 0-19, dependent children)

This visualisation shows the percentage of dependent children aged 0-19 living in households below 60% of the median income before housing costs (BHC) in the Greater West of England and its local authorities, 2023/24. Comparisons are made to the UK average.

The UK rate (23.15%) is higher than the Greater West of England (17.45%), indicating comparatively lower child poverty in the latter.

Across the Greater West of England, there is variation, with Bristol (24.47%) exceeding both the UK and overall regional rates, while Bath and North East Somerset record the lowest rate (12.45%). This 12.02 percentage point (pp) gap between the highest and lowest local authority rates highlight significant intra-regional disparities.

While the Greater West of England performs better than the UK rate, child poverty before housing costs remains pronounced in specific urban areas.

Recent trends in child poverty before housing costs (ages 0-19, dependent children)

This visualisation shows trends in child poverty before housing costs (BHC) for dependent children aged 0-19 in the Greater West of England and the UK, between 2014/15-2023/24. Throughout the period, the UK rates are consistently higher than the Greater West of England, rising from 18.5% in 2014/15 to 23.2% in 2023/24, while the Greater West of England rate increased from 14.36% to 17.45%.

Both areas experienced fluctuations over the period, with peaks around 2019/20 followed by a dip in 2020/21, before climbing to their highest levels by 2023/24.

The overall increase over the period is more pronounced nationally (+4.8 percentage points; pp) than in the Greater West of England (+3.09 pp). Although the Greater West of England consistently performs below the national average, the upward trend in recent years suggests growing pressures across both geographies.

Child poverty before housing costs, geographic comparisons (ages 0-19, dependent children)

This visual shows child poverty rates before hosing costs (BHC) for dependent children aged 0-19 in the Greater West of England, 2023/24. Comparisons are made with other combined authority areas and the UK.

The UK average stands at 23.2% while the Greater West of England is lower at 17.5%, performing around 5.7 percentage points (pp) below the national figure.

In other combined authority areas, high rates are recorded in the West Midlands, West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester (38.1%, 35.1% and 33.9% respectively). This means around one in three children are living in poverty in these areas. In contrast, York and North Yorkshire, the West of England, and Devon and Torbay (17.5%, 18.4% and 20.4% respectively) have among the lowest rates.

The Greater West of England has one of the lowest child poverty rates, performing below the UK average and most of the northern and Midlands combined authority areas. There is a 20.6 percentage point (pp) gap between the highest and lowest combined authority rate (West Midlands; 38.1%, York and North Yorkshire; 17.6%), highlighting deep geographic differences.