Charities step in to help struggling parents afford warm winter coats for their kids

It's claimed a growing number of parents across our region can't afford to buy a warm coat for their child this winter.

New research suggests 150,000 UK children are growing up in homes where parents can't afford to buy them a warm winter coat.

It's prompted a number of fresh campaigns like the 'No Cold Child' project launched by Parentkind, which is calling on big name retailers to give away unsold winter coats by November.

Elsewhere charities like Cash for Kids are offering financial support to organisations and individuals that request their help.

Nikki Thompson is the National Grants Director at the charity. She told Hits Radio: "Our cost of living grants are going to just over 4,500 children in the North West and 1,100 children in the Midlands - you know whenever we open an application window it's so heavily subscribed.

"And they are referrals from teachers in schools too, who know that those children are going to school without a winter coat or without a school uniform.

"There was one the other day a little boy 7 who didn't have a pair of shoes, and he was sitting on his feet in assembly as he didn't want to show people his shoes had holes in.

"It's awful. We do a lot of feedback with families we support and organisations we work with.

"When you see some of the words that come through there's a feeling of failure, that they're letting their children down. They just feel so worthless when they can't provide the basic essentials for their child."

Parentkind CEO Jason Elsom declared that Britain faces a "winter coat emergency" if urgent action isn't taken.

He said: "Our research shows 150,000 children are growing up in homes where parents struggle to buy them a warm winter coat. This is just another awful example of our cost-of-living crisis and as the days get colder presents a real emergency for the families involved.

"We can't hang around; these coats are needed by September and the start of the new school year. We have put a call out to retailers to help us and FatFace has answered that call promising to hand over 10,000 unsold coats at a huge loss to the retailer. We now need other big names to match FatFace and help us hand out more than 100,000 coats for £10 or less. We are calling on other big names to follow the example of FatFace and make sure no child goes cold this winter."

The campaign aims to change perception of school PTAs, turning them into poverty fighters helping parents cope with a cost-of-living crisis. According to the charity PTAs are the "forgotten heroes" of our education system.

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