On 13 March, eight parents from across Britain came to Westminster for a meeting with the education secretary. All are parenting children with SEND while living on a low income, and shared their experiences and their calls for change with the education secretary, advisers and officials. Two more parents who could not be there in person had speeches read out on their behalf. This article brings together excerpts from these speeches.
This briefing covers the following announcements: the new crisis and resilience fund, free school meals, school-based nurseries, housing and employment support/benefits.
The Chancellor described austerity as destructive but government is still rolling it out in the two-child limit which pulls 109 children into poverty every day. Struggling families won’t feel any renewal until the two-child limit – the biggest driver of rising child poverty – is scrapped and that must happen in the Autumn budget. National renewal doesn’t start with record child poverty.
This is fantastic news and a game-changer for children and families. At last more kids will get the food they need to learn and thrive and millions of parents struggling to make ends meet will get a bit of breathing space. We hope this is a sign of what’s to come in autumn’s child poverty strategy, with government taking more action to meet its manifesto commitment to reduce child poverty in the UK.
Eleven major charities have today written to the Chancellor urging her to make a commitment in next week’s spending review to abolish the two-child limit and benefit cap in the Autumn Budget. The charities, including Child Poverty Action Group, Citizens Advice, Save the Children UK, Trussell and The Children’s Society, work with children and low-income families. Their letter warns that the two-child limit has already pulled 37,000 children into poverty since the government took office.
