n 2010–11 (Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), 2024). At regional level, the most severe increases and the highest rates of child poverty (at or above 25%) are in the North East, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber (Stone, 2024). A report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that approximately 3.8 million people experienced destitution in 2022, including approximately one million children, nearly triple the number in 2017 (Fitzpatrick et al., 2023). While the majority (72%) were born in the UK, migrants were disproportionately affected by destitution, lacking access to both cash and other forms of support. The report looked across the four nations and housing was a much more significant contributory factor to poverty in England than elsewhere. The relationship between poverty and safeguarding pressures came through strongly in survey responses and interviews with DCSs. Some local authorities were tracking the link between demand for services and levels of local deprivation. There is a strong correlation between rates of referral and deprivation. Analysis highlights that the rate of referral in the 10% most deprived communities is around five times higher than the rate in the 10% least deprived communities. (Survey, County, Yorkshire and Humber Region) Interviews with DCSs were dominated by comments about how wider determinants, the social inequalities that Sir Michael Marmot termed the ‘causes of causes’ (Strategic Review 13 of Health Inequalities in England post-2010., 2010; Marmot et al., 2020) drive demand for safeguarding services. • Nearly three-quarters of the 86 survey respondents said that demand from families in poverty had risen as a result of welfare reforms. Rising child poverty is driven by the increase in relative poverty among families with thr