The latest statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions show 4.3 million children living in poverty in the UK in 2022/23.
In response, Peter Shreeve, Assistant District Secretary of the National Education Union, told News OnTheWight,
“This ‘Groundhog Day’ type event, where child poverty levels always rise is not a romantic fantasy comedy. It is a ruthless reality consistently ignored and made worse by government sowing deeper inequality and disadvantage.
“This awful situation should not be happening in the fifth richest country in the world. The new high of 4.3 million children – around nine in a class of 30 – is completely unacceptable.”
Shreeve: Poverty limits children’s futures
Mr Shreeve went on to add,
“Figures indicate an increase of 700,000 since 2010-11. Three million children living in poor families falling deeper into poverty, with nearly seven in 10 growing up in households with at least one working parent or carer.
“Poverty limits children’s futures. It holds them back in school and strangles their potential at the start of their young lives. In 2011 the DfE published ‘A new approach to child poverty’. This approach hasn’t worked, neither have newer more recent ones.
“This is why so many schools support breakfast clubs, help with uniforms and personal items. All this happening at a time of overstretched school budgets; when school capacity to help and support families is reduced.”
Shreeve: We urgently need a child poverty strategy that works
Mr Shreeve finished by saying,
“In a General Election year, any future government must act swiftly to ensure that no child is left behind. We urgently need a child poverty strategy that works.
“Government could start with the removal of the punitive Universal Credit 2-child limit and the expansion of Free School Meals to all primary children, so that families benefit and we can all help children to grow, learn and thrive.”
