Children living in poverty in Yeovil

A REPORT has shown that nearly a quarter of children in parts of Yeovil are living in poverty.

Statistics revealed by the Campaign to End Child Poverty shows that 22 per cent of children in the Yeovil East council ward were deemed to be impoverished last year.

Twenty per cent of children in the Yeovil Central and Yeovil West wards were also said to be living in poverty.

Figures for Yeovil South and Yeovil Without wards said nine per cent of children were living in poverty.

A report said the figures presented used tax credit data to give the percentage of children on low incomes in local authorities, parliamentary constituencies and wards across the UK.

“This is not a direct measure of exactly how many children are in poverty on the official definition, but is the closest to an equivalent measure we have of local levels of child poverty,” the report said.

The area with the highest percentage of child poverty in South Somerset was in Chard Holyrood ward with 23 per cent.

But South Somerset district as a whole had the lowest percentage of any area across the county – 12 per cent.

Other districts within the county saw West Somerset with 17 per cent, 16 per cent in Sedgemoor, and 13 per cent in Taunton Deane and Mendip.

Just one district ward within South Somerset was judged to have had less than five per cent of children living in poverty – Ivelchester, which covers the Ilchester area.

In parliamentary constituency areas, Yeovil has one of the highest percentages of child poverty in the county with 13 per cent along with Taunton Deane.

But Bridgwater and West Somerset has 18 per cent, while Wells constituency has 12 per cent and Somerton & Frome 11 per cent.

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