One in six children are living in poverty.

Figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show 7,899 Swindon children aged under 16 were living in relative poverty in the year to March 2023 - 2,274 of them were below school age.

This was a slight rise from the year before and the highest rate since comparable records began in 2014-15.

Children’s charity Barnardo’s said youngsters “can’t be happy and healthy if they are going to bed in a cold home, on an empty stomach”.

CEO Lynn Perry MBE said: “Living in poverty means children miss out on opportunities and the activities that make childhood fun and support their development.

“The government needs to urgently focus on reducing child poverty.

“That should start with a strategy for ending child poverty, including ending the two-child limit ‘sibling penalty’ on benefit payments and ensuring struggling families can afford essentials like food and household bills.”

Children’s commissioner for England, Dame Rachel de Souza, called for welfare reform, including auto-enrolment for free school meals and more free breakfast clubs.

She said: “We need to go much further, faster to support these families, because no child should grow up in poverty in the sixth richest country in the world.”

Across the UK, a record high of 4.3 million children were living in relative poverty when housing costs were considered.

Child Poverty Action Group chief executive Alison Garnham said: “In a general election year, nothing should be more important to our political leaders than making things better for the country’s poorest kids.

“We know that change is possible, but we need to see a commitment from all parties to scrap the two-child limit and increase child benefits.

“Anything less would be a betrayal of Britain’s children.”

Overall, there were 167,847 children experiencing poverty across the southwWest last year, who accounted for 17.3% of all children in the region.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride said: “I know the last few years have been tough, with the aftershocks of Covid and the war of Ukraine driving up inflation and cost of living pressures.

“That’s exactly why we stepped in with the biggest cost of living package in Europe, worth an average of £3,800 per household, and this unprecedented support prevented 1.3 million people from falling into poverty in 2022-23.

“We’re also going further in April, by uprating benefits and pensions to support millions of people on the lowest incomes and extending the Household Support Fund to provide vital support for those most in need.”