In part of Kent 10 schoolchildren in an average class live in poverty, shock new figures reveal.

Some 33.1% of children under the age of 16 in Thanet are from households with earnings under 60% of the UK's median.

For a family of one adult and one child after housing costs that's £221 week, for one adult and two children its £278, for two adults and one child it's £340 and it's £396 for two adults and two children.

It means the area has the fourth highest rate of poverty in the south east.

And the jump in hardship was even more pronounced in the area.

North Thanet saw the rate go from 26.9% to 33% between 2014 and 2021 whereas South Thanet's went from 28.2% to 34.2%.

It meant the areas saw the second and third biggest surge in the region.

Gravesham's 32.4% was the sixth highest jump, followed by Medway (30.7%), Dover (30.2%), Folkestone and Hythe (30.0%), Swale (29.7%) and Ashford (27.9%).

The south east's average rate was 24% while nationally 27% of children were living in poverty (3.6 million), a 2% drop year-on-year which the End Child Poverty Coalition puts down to the temporary weekly £20 Universal Credit uplift.

It was the first time in more than a decade poverty dropped by more than 1% but experts fear the end of the Universal Credit increase will see levels spike as the cost-of-living crisis bites.

Joseph Howes, chairman of the End Child Poverty Coalition and chief executive of Buttle UK, said: “The additional £20 support from the government during the Covid crisis does appear to have affected the figures positively in most areas. This shows that change is possible, these levels of child poverty do not have to be the norm.

"There will always be conflicting government priorities, but surely the wellbeing of the most vulnerable children in our society should be front and centre, particularly as we go through the most severe period of price rises for 40 years."

But even with the UC uplift Thanet bucked the trend. Last year, North Thanet saw a 3.7% rise year-on-year and South Thanet a 3.6% increase.

The day-to-day lives for children from the lowest income backgrounds is stark.

By age three, the average child from a low-income family is up to 17 months behind those from wealthier families.

Across the UK 100,000 children lack three meals a day and a winter coat, 400,000 go without fresh fruit and vegetables daily and 3.2 million don't have a weeks holiday a year.

Demand for grants from children’s charity Buttle UK to support individual families was 48% higher in the south east in the last year than in 2019/20.

Nationally, two thirds of children in poverty lived in a working households (where at least one adult is in work) and 40% of children in lone parent households (compared to 24% of those in two parent households).

Almost half of black and ethnic minority children lived in poverty compared to just over quarter from white British families.

The End Child Poverty Coalition is calling on the government to:

1) Ensure benefits keep pace with inflation permanently

2) Reduce deductions to Universal Credit and abolish the benefit cap

3) Improve access to free or affordable childcare

4) Ensure Free School Meals are extended to all children in families receiving Universal Credit

Liv Eren, 18, grew up in a family on a low income and is an End Child Poverty Coalition ambassador.

She said: "I remember how poverty made me feel. Always being acutely aware of your social position forces you to mature a lot earlier. I remember a group of us telling a teacher that we wouldn't be able to go on a school trip when she wondered why no one had signed up. At 11 and knowing about your parents’ finances and what they can afford– no child should be able to know that.

"And I missed out on normal things kids were doing after school too. Mum couldn't afford childcare, so we were going to work with her in the evenings then having to be at school for 8am and we were absolutely shattered.

"Although I'm 18 now it really upsets me when I look back at the experiences I've had as a young person you feel it can’t get any worse. And to know it is still getting worse for some children and there are young people who are really struggling at the minute, is just an awful thing.”

Mr Howes added: “The numbers may have gone down overall but it still feels like we are on the edge of a precipice. There is significant concern that they will now rise again sharply with families facing huge cost increases in the coming months.

"It remains incredibly worrying that at a moment like this there is nothing in the government’s Levelling Up strategy on this issue. I just don’t understand this, we must see a national child poverty strategy created, it is heartbreaking that there isn’t one when we can see evidence that shows change really is possible.”