School staff in the South West are seeing an increase in hygiene poverty

70% of school staff across the South West claim they have seen an increase in the number of pupils affected by hygiene poverty in the last 12 months.

That's according to new research by The Hygiene Bank and Smol which also found school staff in state schools are collectively spending £40 million of their own money to support them.

Here in the South West 23.5% of staff said they have purchased soap of toiletries for children with the same number saying they have actually washed children's uniforms.

Negative changes to children’s personal hygiene can lead to a significant impacts on pupils’ wellbeing and learning, with staff seeing lack of self-esteem, bullying and isolation; with 23% of staff having seen pupils miss school entirely, according to the research.

With 4.2 million people in the UK now living in hygiene poverty, Ruth Brock, chief executive of the UK charity the Hygiene Bank told us what needs to happen to see change:

"We are calling on the government and the child poverty task force to follow the example of children and teachers to learn about this issue, to raise awareness of it and put it on the agenda, because in the end that's not just good for individual teachers and families, it's good for our society."

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