Daniella Fox: "Can't afford to buy things he needs"

"I'm living on the standard breadline, as they would say," said Daniella.

Officially, households are poor when their income is less than 50% of the average household income, which currently stands at �510 a week.

The latest figures, from the Office of National Statistics, say 3.9m children - almost 20% - live in households like Callum's, bringing in less than �250 a week.

"I can't afford to be able to buy the things I would want to buy for him, or even things he would need - learning, educational toys, things like that," said Daniella.

"They're hard to come across if you're looking in charity shops because you can't afford to buy them new."

'No sweets'

Mother-of-two Tracey Clifford, from Sneinton in Nottingham, said she and her partner bring home about �250 a week.

They have �50 a month left over when bills have been paid and food bought.

She said their family luxury was satellite television - but added that children got picked on at school if they did not have it.

It's very rare that we go out to the pub because we can't afford it, any money we have goes on the children

Tracey Clifford

"My partner smokes roll-ups, which is a lot cheaper, now because he couldn't afford to smoke.

"It's very rare that we go out to the pub because we can't afford it, any money we have goes on the children - nappies, clothing and things like that."

She said the children had odd treats, like going swimming once a week and to McDonald's once a month, but did not have many sweets or get "spoilt".

She said she would not have noticed whether or not the government had reached its targets of lifting children out of poverty.

"We've learned to stand on our own two feet, I suppose, and not had any help."

However, she did recall a time when her partner was out of work and she worked 10 hours a week - thus losing �70 from his benefits.