A foodbank and MP from Norfolk say benefits system needs urgent reform
A record 4.33 million children are estimated to be living on a 'low income' after housing costs in the year to March 2023 - according to official data
A foodbank and MP from Norfolk is telling us that the benefits system needs to be urgently reformed- so that more people here, don't fall into poverty
After a report from a coalition of charities is warning that children are being failed by "dual crises of poverty and mental health".
With the Centre for Mental Health, Save the Children UK and the Children and Young People's Mental Health Coalition calling on the Government to scrap the two-child benefit limit, to help.
“They should be needing to use foodbanks”
Helen Gilbert is project manager of King's Lynn foodbank:
"We're seeing a clear increase, in the number of children who are coming to our foodbank. Over the last five years, we've seen a 71% increase in the number of households, with three or more children, who've come to us.
"Families are finding that they may have been able to afford their three or four children, beforehand but no they can't. So they just need a bit of support, whilst they get back on their feet. But they should be using the benefits system for that, they shouldn't be needing to use foodbanks".
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Steffan Aquarone is MP for North Norfolk:
"The reality in North Norfolk is that poverty is very hidden. It's not based on postcodes, it based on the families in our towns and villages, where the effects of child poverty on individual families, are just not seen".
“I fear that when I go door-to-door this summer, that I will come across more tragic cases of children that who through no fault of their own, aren’t been fed and clothed properly, because their household doesn’t have the budget to do it”.
The research in more detail:
In their report, the charities said: "Money and mental health are inextricably linked; not having enough money leads to parental stress and guilt, which has a knock-on impact on children, both in the here and now and over the course of their lives."
A record 4.33 million children are estimated to be living on a 'low income' after housing costs in the year to March 2023 - according to official data.
The charities said poverty is "a critical risk factor" which has "surged alongside this rise in mental ill health" in recent years.
Their report said: "Poverty at any age can have a devastating mental health impact but can be especially pernicious for children and young people."
What do these group of charities want to see?
The report from the Centre for Mental Health, Save the Children UK and the Children and Young People's Mental Health Coalition recommended the new Labour Government should scrap both the two-child limit and the benefit cap "to ensure all children receive their benefit entitlements".
The cap, introduced in 2013 under the then-Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government as a way of "restoring fairness to the welfare state", sees the amount of benefits a household receives reduced to ensure claimants do not receive more than the cap limit.
The two-child limit was first announced in 2015 by the Conservatives and came into effect in 2017, and restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.
Pressure has been growing on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to axe the two-child limit policy, including from within his own party.
One of his MPs, Rosie Duffield, described the limit as a "heinous piece of legislation" and "a sinister and overtly sexist law" which drove her into politics, while John McDonnell called the policy an "attack on the poorest" and said his party should plan to abolish it "within weeks".
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson on Monday said it would be looked at "as one of a number of ways" to lift children out of poverty, with Labour having set up a new taskforce to tackle child poverty.
But Sir Keir has said there is no "silver bullet" and that there was a "complicated set of factors" including pay, benefits, work, housing, education and health at play.
"Families deserve better"
Andy Bell, chief executive at the Centre for Mental Health, said: "Poverty casts a shadow over a child's mental health, and it's a shadow that can last a lifetime.
"Effective action from the Government can start to turn this around."
Priya Edwards, policy and advocacy adviser at Save the Children UK, said: "A childhood blighted by poverty and poor mental health leads to dreadful outcomes for young people that sadly impacts them for the rest of their life.
"Families deserve better than constant anxiety about making ends meet."
What's the Government saying on this?
The prime minister's spokesman said the government is "developing an ambitious strategy" to tackle child poverty but "is not prepared to make unfunded promises".