A SHOCKING government report has revealed that eight in every 50 children are living in poverty in Swindon.

Swindon’s child poverty rate is 16.6 per cent – amounting to 6,530 children aged under 16.

It is the first time a precise number has ever been recorded for the town, after new legislation last year made it mandatory to record the figure.

And as the town braces itself for cuts in jobs and services, some warn the number below the poverty line can only go up.

Swindon Foodbank, run from the St Aldhelm’s Centre in Edgware Road, has seen the number of customers it serves rocket in the last few years – especially the number of children it feeds.

Project manager Richard Belsham, 64, from Kestrel Drive, Covingham, said: “I can think of families where a bar of soap just doesn’t happen.

“They’re living in very poor housing, and standards of cleanliness which you and I would take to be normal just don’t figure.

“More children are affected now because more people are unemployed.”

The number of children the foodbank fed last year was 1,059 – up from 723 in 2008.

A new centre is planned to open in Cavendish Square, Park South, in March to cope with demand.

“I think we’re going to see an increase in the numbers of people we are feeding, based on the cuts,” said Mr Belsham.

“We’ll see more professionals, maybe social workers, health workers, people in the financial industries, more folks who never expected to be in this position – and often they have families.

“We’re getting more people referred to us from schools and breakfast clubs than we’ve had before.”

Councillor David Renard (Con, Haydon Wick), cabinet member responsible for child welfare, said: “The only good thing is we’re not out of kilter with the rest of the region.

“But it’s a very high number of children in poverty.

“One child is one too many.”