Summary

What the indicators show: children

The proportion of children in low income households has fallen from 34% in 1998/99 to 30% in 2005/06. Children remain more likely than adults to live in low income households.
The number of children in low income households is still well above the Government's target for 2004/05.
Half of all lone parent families are on low incomes compared to one in five couples with children.
Inner London has a far higher proportion of children in low income households than any other region.
A child's risk of low income varies greatly depending on how much paid work the family does. These risks have fallen in recent years for both workless and part-working families.
Half of the children in low income households live in families where at least one the adults is in paid work.

Tax credits now take around 1 million children in working families out of low income – but a million more children need this support than a decade ago.
Only a quarter of the children in families in receipt of tax credits are no longer in low income because of the tax credit monies received.
Tax credits are more effective in taking children in lone parent families out of low income than they are for those in couple families.

The number of children in workless households has fallen by around a fifth over the last decade, with most of this fall being for children in couple households.
Half of all children of lone parents live in households which are workless. This compares to one in fifteen for children of couples.
At a third of all children, the proportion of children who are in workless households in inner London is twice the UK average.
The UK has a higher proportion of its children living in workless households than any other EU country.

Half of all the primary school children who are eligible for free school meals are concentrated in a fifth of the schools, a similar proportion to a decade ago.
Pupils eligible for free school meals have, on average, twice as many pupils in their school eligible for free school meals.
Three-quarters of all local education primary and nursery schools in inner London have a high proportion of their children eligible for free school meals.

Babies born to parents from manual social backgrounds continue to be more likely to have a low birthweight than those born to parents from non-manual social backgrounds.
Babies born to lone parents are more likely to be of low birthweight than babies born to couples.
The proportion of babies who are of low birthweight is similar in all regions of the UK.

Although lower than a decade ago, infant deaths are 50% more common among those from manual backgrounds than among those from non-manual backgrounds.
The rate of infant deaths in the West Midlands is one-and-a-half times that in the South East.

Children from routine and manual backgrounds have, on average, one more tooth with obvious tooth decay than other children.
5-year-olds in Wales and Scotland have, on average, more than twice as many missing, decayed or filled teeth as 5-year-olds in the West Midlands.

Accidental deaths amongst the under-16s have almost halved over the last decade.
Children from manual backgrounds remain somewhat more likely to die in accidents than other children.

The overall number of underage conceptions is similar to a decade ago, although a lower proportion now lead to actual births.
Teenage motherhood is eight times as common amongst those from manual social backgrounds as for those from professional backgrounds.
The total rate of conceptions amongst girls aged under 16 is highest in the North East of England.

Progress continues to be made in the literacy and numeracy of 11-year-olds - including those in schools with high levels of deprivation.
11-year-old pupils eligible for free school meals are twice as likely not to achieve basic standards in literacy and numeracy as other 11-year-old pupils.
Differences in achievement between 11-year old pupils by eligibility for free school meals are greatest amongst white pupils.
In contrast to GCSE results, the proportion of 11-year-olds failing to reach level 4 at Key Stage 2 is similar in all of the English regions.

One in ten 16-year-olds still obtain fewer than 5 GCSEs, only slightly lower than in 1999/00. This lack of improvement contrasts with the continuing improvement for the higher threshold of 5 GCSEs at grade C or above.
32% of White British boys eligible for free school meals do not obtain 5 or more GCSEs. This is a much higher proportion than that for any other combination of gender, ethnic group and eligibility for free school meals.
The proportion of 16-year-olds with few GCSEs is much higher in Wales than in any of the English regions, mainly because of the high numbers who get no GCSEs.

The number of permanent exclusions has remained broadly unchanged over the last seven years.
Black Caribbean pupils are three times as likely to be excluded from school as White pupils.
The rate of permanent exclusion is much lower in Scotland than elsewhere.

There are 60,000 looked-after children in England, 10,000 more than a decade ago.
Almost two-fifths of looked-after children obtain no GCSEs and a further fifth obtain fewer than five GCSEs.
Almost a third of previously looked-after children are not in education, employment or training at age 19.

The number of children found guilty for indictable offences has remained steady, whilst the number cautioned fell up to 2002 but has been rising since then.
The peak rate for offending is at age 16.
More than half of the offences committed by children are committed by those aged 15 or under.
Three times as many boys are found guilty or cautioned of indictable offences as girls but the difference is much less for theft.

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Poverty Indicators