“One of my concerns is that, in the five years between 2005 and 2010, child poverty exploded by several hundred thousand… It went up by 300,000.”

Charlie Elphicke MP, Welfare Reform Bill Committee, 23 March 2011

As Full Fact doggedly follows the Welfare Reform Bill through the committee stage in the House of Commons, the number of claims accompanying this piece of legislation on its passage towards the statute book has steadily increased.

Conservative backbencher Charlie Elphicke’s assertion that 300,000 more children were in poverty now than was the case five years ago was particularly striking, for two reasons.

Firstly, Mr Elphicke seems to be at odds with his party leader David Cameron and his deputy at Number 10 Nick Clegg, both of whom claimed last year that “child poverty has increased by 100,000” over a similar period.

Furthermore, when Full Fact checked Mr Elphicke’s figures on Disability Living Allowance during the Bill’s second reading, we found some significant errors, which the Tory MP seems to have now acknowledged.*

So has Mr Elphicke given a full and fair portrayal of the measure of child poverty?

The Government – in common with the EU – defines child poverty as children living in households whose income is 60 per cent below the national median. This is measured by the Department for Work and Pensions in its Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series.

The most recent update was produced in May 2010, but actually covers the period to the end of the 2008/09 financial year. When looking in simple terms at the number of children defined as living in poverty, we can see that for the past five years for which there is data available, there has been a slight increase from 2.7 million in 2004/05 to 2.8 million in 2008/09. This reflects the 100,000 rise highlighted by the Prime Minister and his deputy.

However this doesn’t necessarily mean that Mr Elphicke is wrong. The HBAI actually produces two different counts for the number of children in poverty: one for households below 60 per cent of median income before housing costs are accounted for, and one including these expenses. Whilst Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg refer to the former, Mr Elphicke highlights the latter.

Once housing costs are factored in, there were 3.6 million children living in poverty in 2004/05, which had risen by 300,000 to 3.9 million in 2008/09.

Whilst Charlie Elphicke therefore gives a sound figure of a measure of child poverty, it is worth considering that he appears to have been somewhat selective in his use of the 2004/05 year as his benchmark, as this marks a historic low point in terms of the number of children living in poverty. The two trend comparisons given by the DWP – year-on-year and 10-year change – both show falls in child poverty of 100,000 and 600,000 respectively.

*Mr Elphicke used both the incorrect 140,000 figure and the revised 127,000 figure noted by Full Fact for the number of DLA claimants 'not seen' by DWP since 1992. He told the Bill Committee: "I think that 127,000 or 140,000 claimants have not been seen since DLA was set ujjp in 1992."