{"id":17750,"date":"2019-04-03T16:40:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T15:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=17750"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:56:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:56:53","slug":"children-food-poverty-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=17750","title":{"rendered":"Shame and exclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shocking new research has revealed the shame and exclusion UK children in food poverty face in school.<\/p>\n

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The stories behind the statistics on child poverty were thrown into sharp relief by a new report published by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG)<\/a>, which is among the first of its kind to hear first-hand from\u00c2\u00a0 low-income children about their experiences of not having enough food to eat.<\/p>\n

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Maddy, 16, explained the embarrassment she faces as a student on free school meals at her school, where students who pay for their school meals are given greater choice.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen she [a staff member at the lunch checkout] was like \u00e2\u20ac\u0098You can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get that, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re free school meals\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, like I was really embarrassed \u00e2\u20ac\u2122cos people were waiting behind me, I was kind of like \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Oh my God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re really restricted to what you can eat with free school meals. So now I just get what I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m safe with \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 so a small baguette and carton of juice.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Immigrant children from low-income families often fare even worse, because many haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lived in the UK long enough to qualify for public funds and so cannot access free school meals.<\/p>\n

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Gideon, 15, who doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t qualify for free school meals because of his family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s immigrant status, told researchers, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s embarrassing, yeah, you have no money on your card and then you just watch them eat.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Not eating all day has a major impact on his ability to perform well in school, he says.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSometimes you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have enough energy, you cannot cope in the classroom so you have to try and rest a bit. You just put your head on the table and you end up falling asleep in the classroom and you get in trouble for it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Amara, 15, also a child from an immigrant family who doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t qualify for free school meals, reported similar experiences.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m hungry I just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t concentrate, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really, really hard for me to do that \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 so I just need to make my mind up and know that I will eat after five hours, seven hours when I get home,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

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Others told of how their parents give up food so that their children have enough to eat.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough food, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get it and sometimes mum will go hungry and starve and stuff,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Byrony, 13, told researchers. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bEven if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that much food for me and [brother], it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s enough that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve actually had something, whereas mum hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t, and it gets a bit to the point where we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll start feeling guilty because mum hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had anything and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Testimony from children living in poverty comes as new statistics from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) published last week found that a record 3m children<\/a> are living in working households in poverty after housing costs have been paid.<\/p>\n

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Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that nearly 900,000 children lived in poverty solely because of skyrocketing housing costs \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a 30 per cent increase since 2010, according to an analysis from the National Housing Federation (NHF) of the data.<\/p>\n

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And as the number of children in poverty rises, their average age has fallen \u00e2\u20ac\u201c now, 53 per cent of kids below the breadline are under the age of 5.<\/p>\n

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Holiday hunger\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Last summer, UniteLive reported from Mile Cross in Norwich, a ward where 80 percent of children are on free school meals.<\/p>\n

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There, we highlighted a local Unite Community free lunches project (pictured) aiming to tackle holiday hunger over the summer. The Unite Community branch gave over 500 packed lunches to children aged 16 and under and went on to host a similar project over the Christmas holidays.<\/p>\n

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The stories parents in Norwich told UniteLive mirrored those found in this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Child Action Poverty Group (CAPG) report.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy husband works more than 40 hours a week,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Molly*, mother of two children aged 8 and 10, said.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI still have to skip meals to make sure my kids are okay. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve worn the same leggings for five years,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she adds, smoothing over a frayed hole. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a massive mould problem in our home but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just no money to fix it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Lucy, another parent of three daughters aged 8,9 and 12, added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shocking to see the difference in our family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s expenses in term time and over the summer holidays \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sorting out childcare, finding activities, but most of all there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s food.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite Community national co-ordinator Liane Groves called testimony from the Child Action Poverty Group (CPAG) \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhaunting\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe cannot reduce conversations about child poverty to mere numbers, because behind these numbers are actual, innocent lives who are suffering from both the physical pain and emotional anguish of hunger. \u00c2\u00a0This report is an important step forward in hearing the voices of these children who are excluded from society simply because their families are struggling to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite Community has been clear from the beginning that tackling child poverty will require challenging government policies such as Universal Credit, which have plunged countless families into the abyss of debt and destitution.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bChild poverty and holiday hunger are problems cynically engineered by this government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cruel policies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to be this way, and through our grassroots campaigning, we at Unite Community are committed to making sure it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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*Names changed to protect identity.<\/p>\n

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