New research from Child Poverty Action Group shows child poverty’s heavy toll on children’s physical and mental health, their education and how they feel about themselves and their futures.
Parents typically need to find at least £39 per week for a child’s secondary school education and £19 for a primary-aged child, research for Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) finds.
School governors, head teachers, PTAs and others working in schools have written to the Chancellor urging him to increase child benefit and expand free school meals eligibility to reduce the impact of poverty and hardship on children and on schools. The open letter says schools increasingly see children finding it harder to learn because of inadequate family incomes.
Schools work really hard to provide enriching experiences for their pupils, from trips and clubs to leavers’ celebrations. However, parents and children have told us through our UK Cost of the School Day project that fun activities at school often have hidden and unrecognised costs. This can mean children from low-income families miss out.
What impact is the cost of living crisis having on families' abilities to keep warm this winter? Parents and carers on a low income who are part of Changing Realities have shared their experiences.
It’s a relief that benefits and the benefit cap will rise with inflation. But this is only the fourth time benefits have risen by inflation in the last ten years and as a result of austerity - that today the chancellor praised - there are almost 4 million kids living in poverty in the UK. Today’s package will not stop the ice from cracking under struggling families.
DWP figures out today show 4 million children are in households on universal credit facing big income cuts if benefits are not uprated with inflation in Thursday’s Autumn Statement. Twenty-nine per cent (1.15m) of these children are aged four or younger.
Cost of a child reaches almost £160,000 for couples, £200,000 for lone parents. 2021-2022 saw the biggest annual deterioration in living standards since 2012. The government must increase benefits with inflation at the Autumn Statement.
Lower-paid jobs – nursery assistants, street cleaners, van drivers – gain less from the NI cut so will see a bigger cumulative loss to income if benefits increase with earnings instead of inflation.