New Report- Growing Up in Poverty: Exploring the Education Gap
What does the education gap really look like for children and young people going without? We understand that childhoods in poverty are tough, and we’ve been keen to understand how that impacts on the lived experience of attending school, college, and university.
21 November 2025 | by Jan Rust | Read time: 1 Minute Read time
This report shares the findings of Buttle UK’s research into the relationship between financial hardship and education for children and young people in 2025. The research aims to understand the impacts of poverty on access to education by amplifying the voice of households living through these experiences, including the direct voice of children and young people.
Buttle UK surveyed over 1000, parents, carers, children and young people who had all experienced financial hardship and received support from the charity.
Key findings:
- Impact of poverty on capacity to learn -73% of children and young people reported that they feel behind with their learning compared to their peers
- Missing resources– “It’s hard not having enough money to buy 2 sets of uniform and having to wash them every night” (parent)
- Attendance – The average attendance rating reported by parents and carers was 78%, a full 15 percentage points lower than the national average reported by the Department for Education for 2024-25
- The role of education settings – Fewer than half of parent carer respondents felt that their child’s setting has staff who understand the financial challenges they face (45%) or provides the full holistic support they need (42%).
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