ONE in three children in inner city Sheffield live in households dependent on state benefits, the Government has admitted.
The Sheffield Brightside constituency has 6,360 children whose parents claim unemployment benefits - equivalent to 35.9 per cent.
In Sheffield Central there are 5,360 children - 33.3 per cent - living with parents who claim either Job Seekers Allo
wance, Income Support, Pension Credit or disability payouts.
The figures, placed by the Government in the Commons library, show that across South Yorkshire there are 55,235 children growing up in benefit-dependent homes.
GET THE FIGURES: See how life is for kids in your areaShadow Work and Pension Secretary Chris Grayling accused the Government of failing on its promise to reduce child poverty and said the New Deal Scheme aimed at getting people into work was "not working".
He added: "This is a shocking indictment of the Government's failure to tackle child poverty. Gordon Brown and his ministers are always claiming how much they have done - but the reality on the ground tells a very different story."
But Brightside Labour MP David Blunkett hit back, saying the Surrey MP, "has about as much idea of what faces the people of Brightside as I have about how to fly a Boeing 747".
He added: "With a drop of 60 per cent in unemployed men and women in Brightside over the last 10 years, the development of three major Sure Start projects and the regeneration programme benefiting a large swathe of the constituency - including two new post-16 colleges - the contrast with the Conservatives could not be starker."
Nationally, the parents of more than 2.2 million children - one in five - claim out-of-work handouts.
What do you think of these shock figures? Add your comment below.The worst affected constituency in the country is Manchester Central where almost half of all children live in households dependent on benefits.
A breakdown of the figures shows Sheffield Brightside has the second highest proportion of children in benefit-dependant households in the Yorkshire and Humber region.
Also among the most dependent are Barnsley East and Mexborough with 27.3 per cent, Rotherham with 26.1 per cent, Sheffield Heeley with 25.9 per cent, Barnsley Central with 25.4 per cent and Doncaster North with 24.9 per cent.
Employment minister Stephen Timms said: "We now have 450,000 fewer children living in workless households than a decade ago, and the rate is falling faster than any major European country.
"We are stepping up our efforts to get even more people into work and to abolish child poverty entirely."
What do you think? Add your comment below.Main news indexThe full article contains 454 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
