As pupils return to schools for the new academic year, the Covid pandemic impact on children in Oxford has been looked into. 

A report from several charities said children are being failed in "dual crises of poverty and mental health", adding poverty is a "critical risk factor" that has surged in recent years.

Latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show a record number of children across the UK lived in households earning less than 60 per cent of the median income in 2022-23.

Some 2.5 million children now live in relative low-income households before housing costs, up from 2.3 million in 2018-19.

This includes 3,626 children in Oxford, equivalent to 14.4 per cent of under-18s in the area – up slightly from 14.3 per cent in 2018-19.

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The report, from the Centre for Mental Health, Save the Children UK and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, called on Labour to scrap the two-child benefit cap, which restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.

Several Labour MPs have criticised the cap, calling for it to be scrapped, but Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has resisted pressure to do so.

Rosie Duffield described the limit as a "heinous piece of legislation", while John McDonnell called the policy an "attack on the poorest" and said his party should plan to abolish it within weeks.

(Image: Radar)

Sir Keir said there is no "silver bullet" and there was a "complicated set of factors" including pay, benefits, work, housing, education and health at play.

Meanwhile, separate figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show a record number of homeless children across England were living in temporary accommodation as of the end of March.

The number of children housed in temporary accommodation such as hotels and bed and breakfasts has risen by 17 per cent since 2020, including 205 in Oxford.

The areas with the highest rates of children living in temporary accommodation are mostly in London, with some areas seeing more one in 20 children living in short-term housing.

Labour described the homelessness crisis as a "national scandal".

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The figures also show 30 households with children in Oxford were assessed as needing a prevention duty in the three months to March, with a further 28 assessed as needing a relief duty.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "We have laid out clear plans in the short and long-term about how we will deliver our target of 1.5 million homes.

"We will prevent homelessness before it occurs by banning Section 21 evictions, and deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.

"We will also give councils more stability through multi-year funding settlements."