In its report, Britain's Poorest Children, children who experienced such poverty were more likely to go without basic necessities such as proper-fitting shoes or a waterproof coat and were more likely to miss meals and to be unable to join in play activities with other children. It said they were five times more likely than others to be excluded from such social activities as having a friend round for tea or having a hobby, because their parents could not afford it.
The researchers, from the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, noted that severe poverty affected children's emotional well-being, as they were more likely to have strained relationships with their parents, and they were twice as likely as those with a higher standard of living to feel they were a failure.
Mike Aaronson, director general of Save the Children, described the picture painted by the report as 'stark'. He said these children 'miss out on material well-being, many local services and basic social activities that the majority of British parents consider vital to a child's development.
This has a serious impact on children's well-being and future prospects.'
Report co-author Sue Middleton, director of the Centre for Research in Social Policy, said that although the Government's policies on child poverty 'seem to be generally on the right lines', more needed to be done.
Save the Children urged the Government to increase its emphasis on initiatives to address the social exclusion of very poor children, to incorporate the aim of eliminating severe child poverty into its official targets and ensure that this was monitored, and to introduce a more flexible benefits system to protect children financially during times of change.
In response, a spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions said, 'Ending child poverty is a key priority for this Government and we remain committed to halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it by 2020.'
Meanwhile, the Government has hailed the take-up of its new tax credits as a 'massive success'.
Figures published last week show that 5.8 million families - 95 per cent of those eligible - have received the tax credits in the four months after they were introduced. But this still leaves 200,000 eligible families without them.
Paymaster general Dawn Primarolo described the tax credits as 'the biggest step forward in tackling child poverty, making work pay, supporting hard-working families, and getting more financial support to families ever introduced by this or any other Government'.
