I am a lecturer at the University of Chichester and for many years I have run workshops about poverty for Early Childhood undergraduate students. During our discussions, I have been struck by how we can understand poverty in very different ways. This paper explores the ‘poverty paradox’, how early years practitioners working in a sector which is under paid, undervalued and struggling to survive can be part of a solution to alleviate poverty for children and families. Drawing on my doctoral research I explore how early years practitioners' understandings of poverty and how these might challenge inequalities or sustain negative stereotypes.