In a letter, sent last night, National Education Union joint
general secretaries Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney called on
the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer to adopt the
union’s policy proposals to tackle child poverty.
New research published today by the End Child Poverty coalition
shows the shocking reality of child poverty in the UK, even
before the further impacts of Covid and recession. Our big cities
continue to have very high rates of child poverty – particularly
London and Birmingham – whilst the North East of England has
experienced the greatest rises in child poverty since 2014/15.
It’s not right that poverty can deny children the opportunity to
thrive, live healthy lives, do well at school and realise their
ambitions for the future. That is why the National Education
Union has written to and , urging them to tackle the blight of child poverty by
taking action on the NEU’s five demands to secure better life
chances for the millions of children trapped in poverty.
The full text of the letter is as follows.
13 October 2020
Dear Prime Minister and Chancellor
We understand these are unprecedented times.
We welcomed the conversation you started this summer about life
chances for disadvantaged children and what Coronavirus means for
these students and their access to learning. The health pandemic
has shone a light on the barriers for students living in low
income and poor families, such as the digital divide – so we
think now is the time to attack the ways in which poverty holds
students back.
This week’s figures by the End Child Poverty coalition
show that more than half of children living in some
constituencies are growing up poor when housing costs are
factored in. The Midlands and northern cities have seen the
sharpest increase in child poverty. The latest IPPR research
indicates that an additional 200,000 children will be pushed into
poverty by Christmas.
We know you are considering Government’s options for how to
counter the devastating impact of Coronavirus on families living
in or on the brink of poverty. Thousands of families have been
pushed into poverty – some for the first time – through wage cuts
and job losses; the overall increased cost of keeping children at
home during the national lockdown has played a role.
Poverty creates concrete barriers to learning, academic progress
and accessing school life. This is why we are writing to you
today with the five policy recommendations below. Investing in
young people’s ability to access learning is a sensible and
measured investment. It saves taxpayer spending in other
departments, such as exclusion and youth justice. Remote learning
will remain a major feature of the landscape this year and so we
need to step up action to counter the digital divide.
Education staff and head teachers are taking their professional
responsibilities immensely seriously during the pandemic and are
working very flexibly and doggedly to support families and
student welfare. This applies particularly in schools in high
poverty areas. However, schools cannot alleviate the hardship
created by Coronavirus.
As winter approaches, one million families are going into debt in
order to cover the cost of a suitable school uniform. 480,000
children await the digital devices promised by the Government;
thousands more have no access to the internet or online learning
at home. 1.5 million children from households eligible for
Universal Credit payments do not have access to Free School Meals
(FSM), and the fast approaching October half term brings with it
the threat of holiday hunger to over a million more.
We believe action in these 5 areas is urgent. We must think about
the experiences of children growing up in low income families and
use the evidence that we have about what can be transformative in
terms of success in school.
We ask that you act urgently to:
- Expand the Free School Meal scheme to include every child
from a household in receipt of Universal Credit, or equivalent
benefits.
- Eradicate holiday hunger by extending FSM provision of at
least £15 per child per week during all school holidays.
- Reform all school uniform policies to ensure uniform options
are affordable for families in the local community.
- Provide free household internet access for children and young
people in households on Universal Credit.
- Establish a new, dedicated technology budget for all schools
to combat the digital divide.
These five actions would help make your Government's levelling up
agenda a reality for many families across the country. These are
the first step in the National Education Union's campaign to
ensure that no child left is behind.
Yours sincerely
Mary Bousted Kevin Courtney
Joint General Secretary Joint General Secretary
ENDS
Editor’s Note
End Child Poverty data, 14 October 2020: http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/child-poverty-in-your-area-201415-201819/
The NEU’s five demands: https://neu.org.uk/campaigns/child-poverty
