Thousands of children are living in poverty in the Cotswolds, new analysis reveals.

The research combined recent figures from the Department for Work and Pensions with local housing costs to produce new estimates for low-income families – those earning less than 60 per cent of the median income.

The analysis shows 2,631 children living in low-income families in the Cotswolds in 2018-19.

This means 18.1 per cent of all those aged 16 and under are living in poverty, though this was a decrease on 2014-15, when it was 20.7 per cent.

The report is based on DWP data from March, and estimates of the effect of housing costs on poverty rates by Loughborough University's Centre for Research in Social Policy.

In the Cotswolds, the number of children in low-income families fell from 2,865 in 2014-15, to 2,631 last year.

Across the UK, the proportion of children in low-income families rose from 28 per cent to 30 per cent between 2014-15 and 2018-19.

A DWP spokesman said there are 100,000 fewer children in absolute poverty than in 2009-10, which is a measure against median income in 2011 rather than the current level.

He added: "Making sure every child gets the best start in life is central to our efforts to level up opportunity across the country.

“We have already taken significant steps to do this by raising the living wage, ending the benefit freeze and injecting more than £9.3 billion into the welfare system to help those in most need.”