CHILDREN living in the North of England face worse health and educational outcomes following the pandemic than youngsters elsewhere in the country, a major new report has warned.

The wide-ranging research, titled Child of the North, highlights that rising inequality costs the economy in lost potential.

It has come up with a series of recommendations on how to narrow the gap and improve the lives and futures of millions of children in the North East.

The research shows that children in the North have a 27 per cent chance of living in poverty compared to 20 per cent in the rest of England.

Prior to the pandemic, the North saw much larger cuts to spending on Sure Start children’s centres – on average, spending was cut by £412 per eligible child in the North, compared to only £283 in the rest of England.

And pupils missed more schooling in lockdown than their peers elsewhere in England, losing four to five times more learning in primary maths compared to areas in the South.

Read more: Government delay to Levelling Up plans

The study estimated the loss of learning in the region, experienced over the course of the pandemic, will cost an estimated £24.6 billion in lost wages over lifetime earnings.

Authors of the report said the regional inequality was down to a lack of investment and called for a £10 per child per week uplift in child benefit, bringing in free school meals and permanently feeding children during holidays.

Kate Pickett, Professor of Epidemiology at York University, said: “Levelling up for the North must be as much about building resilience and opportunities for the Covid generation and for future children as it is about building roads, railways and bridges.

“But the positive message of this report is that investment in children creates high returns and benefits for society as a whole.”

Public health professor Clare Bambra, from Newcastle University, added: “For too long, a lack of investment in key services in the North have meant that our children have suffered disproportionately.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened these inequalities and it will cast a long shadow across generations unless we act now.”

Read more: 12 North East councils call for change to children’s care system

A Department of Education spokesperson said: “Our ambitious recovery plan continues to roll out across the country, with £5 billion invested in high quality tutoring, world class training for teachers and early years practitioners, additional funding for schools, and extending time in colleges by 40 hours a year.

“We’re supporting the most disadvantaged, vulnerable or those with the least time left in education – wherever they live – to make up for learning lost during the pandemic.”

But Stephen Morgan, Labour’s shadow schools minister, said: “Successive Conservative governments have hollowed out frontline education and support services and children are paying the price.

“The pandemic threatens to cast a long shadow over children’s lives. Ministers should be making a generational effort to help them recover, not standing by while existing inequalities are deepened.

“Children in the North and across the country deserve better than meaningless political slogans. Ministers must take proactive steps to prevent further Covid disruption in schools and bring forward Labour’s proper education catch-up proposals that match the scale of the challenges children face.”

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