CHILDREN must be at the guts of national policy, bishops and campaigners have said, because the country gears up for the General Election next month.
Tackling child poverty must be prioritised, they are saying.
“Families are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of debt and poverty,” the director of external affairs of Christians Against Poverty (CAP), Gareth McNab, said this week. “We know from our recent YouGov polling that 40 per cent with three or more children are finding it hard to maintain up with their bills, which is why we support the urgent removal of the two-child profit cap.”
Conservative and Labour manifestos have made no mention of scrapping the two-child limit on advantages, which campaigners say is crucial to ending child poverty. The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party have committed to accomplish that.
Responding to the manifestos this week, the Children’s Society said: “With greater than 4.3 million children now living in poverty, the subsequent UK Government must set binding targets to scale back child poverty and immediately take motion. It is due to this fact disappointing to see only considered one of the main parties trying to scrap each the two-child limit and the profit cap which is probably the most cost-effective strategy to immediately lift 300,000 children out of poverty.”
The Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North, agreed. He told the Church Times this week: “The two-child profit cap is iniquitous, the abolition of advantages and the universal-credit system has been disastrous, and the ending of Sure Start [children’s centres and services] has been possibly considered one of the worst political decisions in my lifetime.”
He continued: “Jesus placed the kid and its needs on the centre of the community, and the contribution of churches could be very essential. But more is required, particularly when children in care have develop into commodities. Private-sector corporations have taken over, make huge profits, and native authorities are being driven to bankruptcy.
“Foodbanks have develop into normalised, countless children are in grinding poverty, and all the pieces is fuelled by a low-pay culture. It’s a national emergency.”
Of the greater than 4000 emails submitted to candidates to date through CAP’s latest online tool, greater than half (56 per cent) had desired to know what their candidates were doing to tackle local poverty. “People see poverty as a matter of public urgency,” Mr McNab said. “It is stealing the dignity and hope of hundreds of their local communities, leaving them cold, hungry, and isolated.”
The director of Innovation Lab at Compassion UK, Jonathan Prosser, has written to all party leaders to hunt a fundamental shift towards child-centred policies, including the introduction of a dedicated Minister for Children, and “valuing the social good” of parenting.
“We have an unparalleled opportunity to . . . develop into a child-centred nation. This commitment wouldn’t only foster domestic growth and well-being, but in addition function a world-leading asset in foreign policy and diplomacy, delivering transformational outcomes for kids.”
A report published on Monday by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, The Impact of Hardship on Primary Schools and Primary and Community Healthcare, has found that, “on average, primary school staff estimate 48 per cent of their pupils had experienced hardship sooner or later for the reason that start of the college 12 months.”
Food poverty is widespread: hunger is “an on a regular basis occurrence” for a couple of third (35 per cent) of pupils, rising to 44 per cent in deprived areas. “Primary school staff across Britain are seeing children who’re hungry, drained, and in need of emotional support because they’re experiencing hardship.”
The report also states that “a 3rd of employees say their school provides a foodbank, 1 / 4 say they supply other essentials (reminiscent of toiletries, energy top-up vouchers, beds and bedding), and nearly two in five say staff are providing direct support out of their very own pocket.”
The principal policy adviser of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Katie Schmuecker, said: “Hardship has reached a shameful level in our country, with almost 4 million people finding themselves in destitution in a single 12 months — unable to maintain themselves dry, warm, and fed.
“As a rustic, we want our legislators to deal with hardship at source, not look the opposite way. We still must hear how they’ll take urgent motion to support families, in addition to setting out daring, long-term solutions which be certain that everyone in our country can at the least afford the essentials.”
In a social-media post this week, the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, said: “At election hustings it’s price asking candidates to comment on why, in 2023-24 12 months, Trussell Trust foodbanks in Norfolk distributed 41,303 food parcels — up 72 per cent from five years ago. Two out of three user households were unable to work and were reliant on advantages.”
