Millions of children growing up in poverty

Children’s charity Buttle UK has revealed that child poverty is becoming the norm in some parts of the UK, with more than half of children living trapped in poverty in some constituencies.

The data, published by the End Child Poverty Coalition, highlights how worrying levels of child poverty vary across Britain and shows that poverty is on the rise - and rising fastest in places where it is already highest. This includes London, Birmingham and Manchester, suggesting that inequality between areas is growing.

According to the charity, approximately 60 per cent of frontline support workers see families more than once a week who are unable to afford the basics, such as food, household items, and fuel.

Furthermore, half of the respondents also said they often see children fed breakfast and/or dinner at school because families cannot afford to feed them themselves, while nearly half of such support workers said they work with families unable to afford the costs of children’s clothes and shoes.

Therefore, End Child Poverty is calling for government to set out an ambitious and credible child poverty-reduction strategy, including: restoring the link between benefits and inflation; ending the two-child limit on child allowances in tax credits and universal credit-and reforming Universal Credit; and reversing the cuts and investing in children’s services such as mental health, education, childcare and social care.

Joe Howes, CEO of Buttle UK, said: “These new figures from the End Child Poverty Coalition show that the situation for some of the areas of the UK, that are already the most deeply affected by poverty, is worsening and that means growing problems for the most vulnerable children living in these areas.  While this is unacceptable across the UK as a whole, it is particularly troubling to see it is places in the South East where some of the greatest wealth in the UK is centred.

“Buttle UK sees the consequences of the situations these children are in everyday through applications we receive for our Chances for Children grants, and it is heartbreaking. Children who, for example, are missing basic essentials – like their own bed to sleep in. But we, like the other members of the End Child Poverty Coalition, only have the resources to do so much.  What we really need at this stage is the for all UK political parties to prioritise this issue and work with the voluntary sector to start to reverse these figures.”

Steve Reed, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Children, said: “Millions of children across our country are growing up stuck in poverty thanks to Conservative cuts to local authorities and social security. No society that loves its children can treat them like this. The government must learn lessons from this powerful report and make Britain’s children their priority rather than tax cuts for the super-rich. The next Labour government will end the cuts and invest in children’s services like Sure Start to ensure the next generation get the best start in life.”