Nursery World - Smoking puts nearly half a million children into poverty in the UK

Around 400,000 children are being pushed into poverty because of their parents’ smoking habit, according to a new study.

The research, published online by BMC Public Health Journal, which claims to be the first study of its kind in the UK, highlights the financial burden put on low-income families by smoking, which reduces the income available for basic household and food expenses.

Dr Tessa Langley, lead researcher from the UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies at the University of Nottingham, said, ‘Smoking reduces the income available for families to feed, clothe and otherwise care for their children living in low-income households.’

Researchers are calling for the Government to introduce tobacco control interventions to encourage low-income smokers to quit.

The study estimates that 1.1m children in the UK, almost half of all children in poverty, are living with at least one parent who smokes. A further 400,000 would be classed as being in poverty if parental tobacco expenditure was subtracted from the household’s income, it says.

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