Local News

The latest offices figures have revealed that more than 37,000 children are living below the breadline in Teesside;

...and economic Crime Officers with the assistance of colleagues from the Gambling Commission have worked to ensure a man has had to surrender tens of thousands of pounds. 

The latest offices figures have revealed that more than 37,000 children are living below the breadline in Teesside.

The figures show that there were 37,052 children in Teesside living below the breadline in March 2021 - and that's before the cost of housing was taken into account.

The shocking number means that one in three children were living in poverty and the figures are rising.

Unlike most places in the country, which saw the number of children living in poverty dip last year due to financial support from the Government at the start of the pandemic, Teesside saw an increase from 33,503 in March 2020.

With the £20 uplift on Universal Credit gone, living costs rising, and benefits not keeping up, charities are warning that the situation is likely to get much worse for families.

Economic Crime Officers with the assistance of colleagues from the Gambling Commission have worked to ensure a man has had to surrender tens of thousands of pounds. 

In July 2020, an investigation into a 27-year-old man from Middlesbrough began as he was suspected of running illegal lotteries from his Facebook page.

The man was running a substantial amount of lottery style services including ‘bonus balls’ and ‘raffles’ for his own personal gain with thousands of transactions going through his bank accounts.

These types of lotteries are the preserve of charities and other ‘good causes’ and cannot be run for private or commercial gain unless they qualify as one of the ‘exempt’ class of lotteries in the Gambling Act 2005.  

At a Proceeds of Crime hearing at the end of March, a forfeiture order was made for almost £140,000 held in bank accounts belonging to the man which were considered to be his personal profit from the lotteries.