Statistics point to "worrying" increase in households sliding into poverty, with Hartlepool again ranking high on both local & national statistics..
Something that come as no surprise to our reporters even before we went to publication with our report in that the increasing pressures of the cost of living crisis & COVID-19 was going to see the towns already alarming rates of poverty & deprivation soar even higher & according to a report that’s set to go before the councils Audit & Governance Committee this week, the figures are set to be laid bare for all to see….
That’s because it’s been claimed that Hartlepool now sits second in the table of local authorities in the Tees Valley with the Highest levels of Child poverty, with 37.% per cent of households now said to be considered officially in poverty,
Only Middlesbrough seen higher levels ranking first on the list of Tees Valley authorities with 39.4% of households classed as in poverty, with the two local councils seeing a 10.4% & a 10.3% increase respectively.
The figures provided by the charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Trust are likely to send shivers down the spines of many as the increase in poverty can seemingly be attributed to the spiralling cost of living crisis, as household incomes get further squeezed & made even worse again come April 2023 when Hartlepool’s expected to see a double whammy of yet another whopping Council Tax rise as well as the threat of further energy price rises taking the average household energy bill to around £3000.00 a year
The institute of fiscal studies reported that whilst child poverty in some of the areas most deprived Tees Valley regions continues to rise at an alarming rate, the figures are set to continue to rise where by 2025, as many as 50% of all households in the area could be classed as in poverty…
In Hartlepool, its been discovered that poverty rates in the area were now so prevalent & entrenched in many households that those falling into destitution were almost always likely to have complex needs, with many found to be some of the most vulnerable in society.
To make matters worse, whilst Hartlepool was bucking the trend again for all the wrong reasons as being the second highest in terms of local authority areas seeing household poverty numbers rise sharply, national figures didnt paint the town in a very good picture either, when it was revealed that Hartlepool now ranks 8th in the top 20 local authorities in the country as having the worst rates for households plundered into poverty, with nearby Middlesbrough again topping the national list fearing much worse ranking top of the list & even larger cities such as Newcastle ranking 5th according to figures again provided by the JRF (Joseph Rowntree Foundation)..
The figures also show that for every classroom of 30 school pupils in the town eleven of them will be deemed to be living well below the poverty line, in sobering figures that’s likely to reinforce just how a cost of living crisis for some has now quite literally turned into a fight for survival…
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