Almost two million children in the UK could be trapped in poverty and hardship as their parents face at least one major barrier to working or taking on extra work, according to new research by the charity Action for Children.

Some 440,000 children are in poverty despite their parents or a single parent working full-time, while 266,000 children in a couple-parent family where both parents work full-time also find themselves in the same position.

The situation is not likely to improve anytime soon with the IMF saying the UK’s economy will contract by 0.6% in 2023, rather than grow slightly as previously predicted.

It is the only majority economy predicted to shrink, instead of grow.

Aljazeera.