The reality for a growing number of children in poor families
in Britain is cold, damp houses and not enough to eat, a new survey by a leading
children’s charity reveals, as living standards decline for most people across
the country.
More than 50% of all poor
children in Britain are living in houses they say are too cold, while a quarter
said their homes had a damp or mold problem, a survey published by the Children’s Society
charity reveals.
The study asked 2,000 children,
aged between 10 and 17, for their views on poverty. At present there are three
million children living in poverty in the UK, and that figure is set to rise
despite claims from numerous governments that tackling child poverty remains a
priority.
Beth Hersfeld in emailed comments to RT said that the UK
compares poorly with its European neighbors in terms of the number of children
living in poverty.
As well as carrying out the
survey, the Children’s Society is launching a children’s commission on poverty,
to record and help address the concerns of children living below the
breadline.The idea is “to get children’s voices heard” said
Hersfeld because “children are the most affected yet they are
the least heard.”
76% of children who said their
family “wasn’t well off at all” said that they often
worried about how much money their family had and more than 53% said their home
was too cold last winter; 26% said their home was damp or had a mold problem,
while 24% said they were much colder than they would like them to be.
55% said they felt embarrassed
by the fact that their family was poor and 14% said they had actually been
bullied because of it, with some receiving insults like “council house kid”.
More than half the children surveyed said they thought child
poverty has increased over the last decade and nearly half thought it would get
worse again over the next two years.
“This is a
damning incitement of how children feel about their chances of their future and
the opportunities they will have in life,’ Hersfield told RT.
“For millions
of children up and down the country, poverty is a grinding reality – and it is
getting worse. Many families are facing stark and unacceptable choices, like
heat or eat. This is disgraceful in any country, especially in one of the
world’s richest,” Matthew Reed, the chief executive for the Children’s
Society, said in a statement.
Children’s Centers in crisis
A separate survey published on Tuesday by
another charity, 4Children, shows that an increasing number of families are
using the services offered by children’s centers, despite the fact that many are
being starved of cash due to local government funding cuts.
Their research reveals that over the past 12 months, 66% of
centers are operating on a decreased budget, but 73% are dealing with an
increased number of families. A third say that they expect to be offering a
reduced number of services within a year.
According to the study, over a million families used the
services of children’s centers and they are supporting two-thirds of
disadvantaged families with children under the age of five.
“The past
twelve months have seen existing pressure on families mounting, with increasing
strain on job security, household finances, relationships and widespread
anxiety. Our census shows that more and more families, particularly those in the
greatest need are turning to Children’s Centers to help pull them through these
tough times,” Anne Longfield OBE, chief executive of 4Children, said in a
statement.
She added that local authorities are under extreme financial
pressure because of the coalition government’s austerity drive and warned that
long-term social and financial reward come from keeping the centers open and not
closing them down.
She also said that it is essential for services such as
ante-natal midwifery clinics to be run through Children’s Centers, to ensure
that families have the full range of help and support they need.
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions was quick
to pass the buck and blame the last government.
“Despite paying
out 170 billion in tax credits alone, the previous government failed to meet
their target to halve child poverty by 2010. While this government is committed
to eradicating child poverty, we are taking a new approach by finding the root
causes of the problem and tackling these”, he told the Guardian.
An estimated 5.3 million
households live in fuel poverty in Britain and this figure is expected to rise
to 9 million by 2016. Meanwhile the so-called Big Six energy companies have year
on year raised prices for gas and electricity.
Neil Clark, a freelance
journalist and regular contributor for RT, thinks the UK government could do
more to control the constant rise of energy bills.
"Any government that genuinely
represented the interests of the British people would have taken tough action by
now against the Big Six. The government could have ordered the companies to
freeze, or better still, reduce prices," he wrote in an opinion peice for RT.
The recent price rises have already caused a political stir in
Westminster and on Tuesday MPs summoned the bosses of the Big Six to justify the
price hike in front of the Energy and Climate Change Committee (ECCC).
They are arguing that they were forced to raise prices because
the wholesale price for gas had gone up substantially in the last two years, a
claim that the industry regulator, Ofgem refutes.
