Blackpool Council Annual Health Report 2019 Blackpool Council Annual Health Report PAGES | Page 22

POVERTY
Around 26% of Blackpool’s children (dependent children aged under 20) were living
in poverty in 2016. This figure is likely to be higher when housing costs are taken into
account. Bloomfield ward has the highest proportion of children (aged 0-15) living in
poverty in the country, based on the Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2015. The Claremont
and Brunswick wards also fall in the 20 wards with the highest levels of child poverty.
About a quarter of Blackpool children are eligible for and claiming free school meals and
this has remained steady across the past four years 9 .
Children from poorer backgrounds lag at all stages of education 10 :
•  By the age of three, poorer children are estimated to be, on average, nine months
behind children from more wealthy backgrounds.
• By the end of primary school, pupils receiving free school meals are estimated to be
almost three terms behind their more affluent peers and this lag increases further by
age 14 and 16.
•  Children receiving free school meals achieve 1.7 grades lower at GCSE.
Poverty is also associated with a higher risk of both illness and premature death 11 .
•  Children born in the poorest areas of the UK weigh, on average, 200 grams less at birth
than those born in the richest areas.
•  Children from low-income families are more likely to die at birth or in infancy compared
to children born into richer families.
• Children living in poverty are also more likely to suffer chronic illness during childhood
or to have a disability.
HOUSING AND FUEL POVERTY
Closely linked to poverty, the quality of housing can affect health and wellbeing of children
as well as educational achievement. Children living in poverty are almost twice as likely to
live in bad housing.
Fuel poverty also affects children detrimentally as they grow up as low income families
do sometimes have to make a choice between food and heating. Long-term exposure to a
cold home can affect weight gain in babies and young children, increase hospital admission
rates for children and increase the severity and frequency of asthmatic symptoms.
Children in cold homes are more than twice as likely to suffer from breathing problems
and those in damp and mouldy homes are up to three times more likely to suffer from
coughing, wheezing and respiratory illness, compared with those with warm, dry homes.
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9. https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/child-health-profiles/
10. http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/impact-poverty
11. http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/impact-poverty