\n But when Jaffe, who lives in London<\/a>, became pregnant unexpectedly with her second child, she couldn\u2019t afford<\/a> to buy everything she needed. \u201cIt\u2019s so overwhelming having to accommodate a baby with no budget,\u201d she told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI was already struggling financially\u2026 but I didn\u2019t know how bad things were going to get\u2026 Now things are at a point where I\u2019m working full time, and I cannot pay my bills.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Child poverty has reached a record high in the United Kingdom as the country\u2019s cost of living soars and its social security safety net falters following years of government austerity. With public services much weakened, charities like Little Village have stepped in.\n <\/p>\n \n Around one-third of Britain\u2019s children \u2013 about 4.5 million \u2013 now live in relative poverty, often measured as living in a household that earns below 60% of the national median income after housing costs, a government report<\/a> published in April found.\n <\/p>\n \n One million of these children are destitute, going without their most basic needs of staying warm, dry, clothed and fed being met, according to a 2023 study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation<\/a>, which studies poverty and formulates policy to tackle it.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe came across one family that were just existing on cornflakes and rice,\u201d Little Village chief executive Sophie Livingstone told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe have lots of families who are in one room, lots of mold, lots of very poor-quality housing even when people are housed,\u201d she added.\n <\/p>\n \n Even for families that are able to meet their children\u2019s basic needs, life is a month-to-month struggle, without any financial security.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou just live in fear all the time and that\u2019s not a fun place to be when you\u2019ve got children relying on you,\u201d Lia, a single mother to 7-year-old twin girls, told CNN after being connected through the Changing Realities Project, which documents parents living on low incomes. She asked to use a pseudonym to protect her family\u2019s privacy.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThey want to do all the same things that their peers are doing\u2026 but the budget won\u2019t allow that,\u201d she said. After paying for essentials each month, she has no money left.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cEvery single time I go out, I have to vigilantly and diligently make sure I\u2019m not overspending. That\u2019s a really anxiety-provoking situation to be in.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n A law graduate who lives in Hampshire, southeast England, Lia initially returned to work but says she would often be called mid-meeting by her childcare provider if one of her daughters, who has complex needs, dyspraxia and global developmental delay, was having a \u201ctantrum or a meltdown.\u201d She eventually had to quit her job.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI go into survival mode,\u201d she said. \u201cI was in the (foster) care system growing up and I remember feeling so much struggle and angst like, \u2018if I can just get through this, it\u2019ll be ok.\u2019 Yet still, that situation hasn\u2019t changed; as much as I know I have a lot to offer and I try to be a good member of society, I still feel like no matter where I turn, there\u2019s difficulty.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n And even for families earning well above the poverty line, the cost of housing and childcare, especially in London, can be so high that there is simply no money to spend on anything else. Around 70% of children living in poverty have at least one parent in work.\n <\/p>\n \n Childcare is more expensive in the UK than in most other wealthy countries \u2013 costing about 25% of a couple\u2019s and about 60% of a single parent\u2019s net household income, according to figures released by think tank The Institute for Fiscal Studies in 2022.\n <\/p>\n \n Jaffe, the mother who makes use of the Little Village baby bank, works full-time in client solutions and says she earns \u00a345,000 ($59,000) a year to support herself and her three children \u2013 well above the UK\u2019s average. Still, she says she is \u201cstruggling every month to make sure everything is paid, not able to save anything, not able to do things for my kids.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n After paying for essentials \u2013 rent, childcare, food and household bills \u2013 she is left with \u00a3192 (around $250) a month for emergencies and to save for the next month in case there\u2019s an error in her next social security payment \u2013 something she says is a regular occurrence.\n <\/p>\n \n Although child poverty has always been present in the UK, the rate of it is rising \u2013 and much faster than in other wealthy countries. Between 2012 and 2021, it rose by almost 20%, UNICEF<\/a> found. Now, in 2025, the UK\u2019s child poverty rate is higher than that of any European Union country except Greece, according to the Resolution Foundation<\/a>, a living standards think tank.\n <\/p>\n \n The organization estimates that another 300,000 children<\/a> will fall into poverty by 2030 if nothing changes.\n <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/img-1561.jpg\")
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