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This week, schools in England will open their doors to their full school community for the first time in almost six months. We know that families with children have been hardest hit by the economic effects of the pandemic, with 2 in 5 facing financial difficulty, and that the lowest paid have been most badly affected. In this perfect storm of a difficult lockdown and worsening household finances, there needs to be much more focus on family income as children return to school.  

As part of the research for our Cost of Learning in Lockdown report, we conducted some interviews with parents and carers from across the UK, who shared with us their family’s experience of school closures. We’re now publishing some of these interviews on our blog, to shine a light on these important stories and the issues that they bring up. We’re very grateful to the parents and carers who took part in these interviews: thank you for helping us understand the impact of lockdown measures on family life, and informing our recommendations to schools, local authorities and the government.

Poverty Proofing the School Day is a National Programme we have been running at Children North East since 2014. We developed Poverty Proofing the School Day after a consultation with children and young people. We gave out disposable cameras to young people and asked them to take pictures of what poverty looked like to them in their communities.

Low-income families are faced with ongoing challenges in budgeting and balancing the regular costs of living with meeting the need for more occasional and one-off items. But it is not just expenditure that is ‘lumpy’ in this way. Income can also come into households at different times and in different amounts. Research with families looking in depth at money management highlights something of a paradox in the juggling of low income.