A THIRD of children in the North-West are living in poverty, according to a charity.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have released statistics showing that 480,000 youngsters in the region live in households close to the breadline.,

This is 32 per cent of the total - higher than the UK national figure of compared to 30 per cent.

The foundation's figures also reveal that in the North West:

• 1,600,000 people are currently living in poverty - 23 per cent of the population;

• 46 per cent of children in single parent families are in poverty; and

• 74 per cent of children in workless families are in poverty.

The regional figures are in the detailed data of this week's Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s annual state of the nation report, UK Poverty 2018.

Labour's Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Margaret Greenwood MP said: “This report should be a wake-up call for the government: there is something seriously wrong when the number of people in work in poverty is increasing faster than employment.

“Increasing numbers of children in the North West are growing up in poverty as their parents are unable to escape insecure work and low pay.

“Labour will end the social security freeze, introduce a £10 per hour Real Living Wage and build the affordable housing so desperately needed to lift people out of poverty.”