Children in the North of England face worse health and poorer school results
New report shows inequality for children growing up in the North of England post-pandemic
Children in the North of England are facing worse health and educational prospects post-pandemic than anywhere else in the country, according to a major new report.
Over 40 leading academics from across the North of England contributed to the study, which outlined the UK's growing inequality and the cost this has on British society for the "Children of the North".
After extensive research, it was found that children in the North of England would lose over £24 billion in future living wages as a result of missed education during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Academics also estimated that the mental health conditions that Northern children developed during the pandemic could cost an estimated £13.2 billion in lost wages over their working lives.
Children in the North were also more likely to be obese than a child elsewhere in England. In addition, Northern children had a higher chance of living in poverty compared to children in the South of England.
During the pandemic children in the North were lonelier than children in the rest of England. 23% of parents in the North reported that their child was ‘often’ lonely compared to 15% in the rest of the country.
Most shockingly, children born in the North are more likely to die under the age of one than their Southern counterparts.
Professor David Taylor-Robinson
Professor David Taylor-Robinson works at the University of Liverpool and is the co-lead author. He told us:
"These inequalities that we expose in the report are preventable. That's a key thing.
"I think people should be outraged by the findings of this report. Children don't normally have a voice and I don't think we should put up with these huge health differences. It's completely unfair.
"In the north, we went into the pandemic ill-prepared and part of the reason for that was that we hadn't got the basics in place. The population was more unhealthy to begin with.
"We've always got to support the next generation of children. We need more funding in education, health and social care."
How to tackle the poverty issue:
Speaking about the findings of the report, co-lead author Kate Pickett said: "Levelling up for the North must be as much about building resilience and opportunities for the Covid generation and for future children as it is about building roads, railways and bridges.
"But the positive message of this report is that investment in children creates high returns and benefits for society as a whole.
"It is the North as a whole that needs levelling up. It's children in the North as a whole who need more targeted resources to address their greater needs".
At the end of the report, the authors put forward a set of recommendations to tackle the inequalities suffered by children over the course of the pandemic.
Some of the recommendations include welfare and childcare investment, increasing child benefit by £10 per child per week and the introduction of free school meals across the country.
An added recommendation is providing food for children permanently through school holidays to keep children fed year-round. This recommendation was popularised by a campaign led by England footballer Marcus Rashford at the end of 2020.