The urbanisation of poverty and related challenges faced by children living in slums requires governments to step up social protection provision in urban areas. This advocacy note provides a snapshot of the global literature on urban social protection and the existing coverage data, which shows how the urban poor are not overall well covered by either social assistance or social insurance schemes. The note also highlights policy innovations for addressing child poverty equitably in all contexts, rural and urban, such as the introduction of universal child benefits and the extension of social insurance schemes to informal workers.