Newcastle families urge leaders to to tackle child poverty crisis.
Families in the West End of Newcastle have issued a plea for action for leaders to tackle the area’s child poverty crisis.
Campaigners are calling on North East mayor Kim McGuinness and Newcastle City Council to take a stand against the two-child benefit cap and push the Labour Government to scrap the controversial policy.
Newcastle’s West End is home to some of the most deprived communities in the region – with 46% of children in Elswick, 42% in Arthur’s Hill and the city centre, and 38% in Benwell living below the breadline, according to official Government figures for 2022/23.
Members of Food and Solidarity, a group which provides weekly food parcels to more than 150 Newcastle families, gathered outside the mayor’s offices on Friday to present a massive photo petition featuring images of hundreds of people sharing ‘no to child poverty’ messages.
They have urged the mayor and council to lobby ministers to end the two-child cap, which prevents people from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for more than two children, and abolish the no recourse to public funds (NRPF) policy that prevents migrants with temporary immigration status from claiming benefits.
The protest came the day after a new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that ending the two-child cap would lift 540,000 children out of absolute poverty at a cost of £2.5 billion per year, though it warned it was not a “silver bullet”.
Mum-of-two Mwenza Blell told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that Labour’s decision not to remove the policy after coming to power was “unconscionable”.
The 45-year-old, who lives in Elswick, said: “I fell in love with the West End a really long time ago, when I moved to the North East about 20 years ago. At that time it wasn’t as poor, we were living under very different conditions.
“It is still a beautiful place and I love my community so much, but the scale of child poverty is really awful. We have to stand up and fight about it.
“We were hoping that this year would mark a change with the general election, but there is no sign of that yet. We are in a crisis here – there are huge numbers of children living in poverty in our neighbourhood and there are policies that are responsible for that.”
Food and Solidarity campaigner Elgan John said the benefit cap and NRPF policies “are huge contributors to child poverty” and that the mayor “has the power to push for these changes and stand up for Newcastle’s children”.
The group was also planning to deliver their petition to Newcastle City Council cabinet member Lesley Storey on Saturday morning.
Ms McGuinness was unable to meet the campaigners on Friday but pledged to do so at a future date.
The Labour mayor made ending child poverty in the North East a central pledge of her election campaign and has recently announced the creation of a dedicated unit, which is expected to deliver policies including a new childcare grant to help parents struggling to get back into work.
She said: “It’s great to see such passion and shared commitment to ensuring that no child in our region is left behind. I have been a long-time advocate for addressing child poverty and I have already taken concrete steps as Mayor, establishing the UKs first Child Poverty Reduction Unit.
“Next month I will be bringing together community volunteers, business leaders, charities and the public sector for our first North East child poverty summit, so we can begin to tackle this issue head on. Every child, regardless of their background, deserves a fair chance and real opportunity.
“I know the child benefit cap impacts directly on families facing or in poverty, and it should be lifted. But we also know that 14 years of Tory mismanagement left the nation’s finances in a mess and we need to be on a firm financial footing to make these much-needed changes. I’ll work with local groups and our Government to push for more direct solutions to poverty in the UK.”