ONE in five children in North West Hampshire are living in poverty, with the constituency one of the worst of its neighbouring areas – a shock new report has revealed.

A report, compiled by The Children’s Society, showed 19 per cent of children in the area are living in poverty, higher than five of its neighbouring areas, including Basingstoke and Winchester.

According to the report, there are 22,358 children in North West Hampshire and 4,190 are living in poverty and face destitution.

It added that of these children, 35 per cent are in a household where at least one adult is not in work.

The report says: “We are concerned that for too many families a move into work is not a move out of poverty.

“Nationally, more than seven million children live in families facing a four-year freeze to their benefits and the cumulative changes to support will mean many families will lose out overall, despite positive changes such as the introduction of a national living wage.”

North West Hampshire came out as one of the worst constituencies compared to all seven of its neighbouring areas; North East Hampshire, Devizes, Winchester, Newbury, Basingstoke, Salisbury and Romsey and Southampton North.

Only the latter two areas fared worse than Andover’s region. The report added, as a recommendation, the government should reverse its decision to introduce a four-year benefit freeze.

Annie Mihell, secretary of Andover Foodbank, said: “I’m not surprised by this because Andover in particular has always featured very high in the list of deprivation.

“We’re now finishing our 10th year, we’ve always been aware of this and we’ve supported children and families in need.

“Our annual report last year shows the demand for us and St Mary’s and Alamein in Andover have always featured high in national deprivation. It’s very sad to see them there.”

The children’s charity report was directed at MP for North West Hampshire, Kit Malthouse.

He told the Advertiser last week: “It didn’t come as a surprise to me as I’ve been approached about this before.

“I think The Children’s Society is a great organisation, it’s good to have constant reminders of the mission of trying to improve the lives of people.

“I do support what The Children’s Society are doing, I’ve worked with them in the past.

“The structure of welfare and benefits has often trapped people in poverty.

“And what the government is trying to do, is firstly, try to get people into work and secondly introducing Universal Credit, so that people are always better off and get people into work. I think it will make a big difference.”

A “health profile” of the Test Valley from last year by Public Health England showed the levels of deprivation within Andover.

The English Index of Multiple Deprivation 2015 concluded: “One area, which includes King Arthurs Way, falls into the top 20 per cent most deprived areas in the country and is ranked particularly low in terms of education skills and training, crime and disorder and income.”