Child Poverty within the New Forest?

During the BBC’s Children in Need week 2013, one in three children are currently living in poverty in the UK, one of the highest rates in the industrialised world.

Here in the New Forest, children are suffering the devastating impact of poverty and deprivation. Perhaps a surprising fact to some of us as the New Forest is often perceived as an area of affluence however, findings of the Hampshire Child Poverty Needs Assessment (2011) show that the New Forest appears 10 times in the top 20 areas with high levels of child poverty in the county.

This is a shocking figure given the wealth of our district. Poverty can have a profound impact on the child, their family, and the rest of society. It often sets in motion a deepening spiral of social exclusion, creating problems in education, employment, mental and physical health and social interaction.

The New Forest Local Children’s Partnership is working together to challenge this impact on vulnerable children’s developing lives. Chairman of the partnership, Michael Clowes, commented “Child poverty is complex and its effects can be long lasting and hard to escape. We are keen to raise awareness that child poverty exists in the New Forest District. We also want to raise awareness of the valuable support available to help reduce the impact of child poverty and to also help people become aware of how they can support themselves. This is a long term problem and the partnership is determined to work with communities and partners in addressing this issue”.
Michael also noted “This week is this year’s BBC Children in Need campaign. As a national campaign it aims to highlight the challenges and issues that affect many vulnerable children and young people. The child poverty campaign takes this to a local level – and we need to work together in tackling this very local issue.”

A community response that makes a difference
The impact of child poverty can be reduced and there are many ways to make a difference. For example, the Local Children’s Partnership is developing, for forest-wide distribution, a support service booklet that will contain advice and guidance on key areas of support such as health, debt management, parent support, employment and training.

Along with this the partnership will also be running a poster competition with local schools to raise awareness of child poverty and the direct, local support available.

Who is affected by child poverty?
National studies show that some of the following groups can be at particular risk of living in poverty:

• lone parent families;
• large families, with four or more children;
• children living with disabled adults, or adults with mental health problems;
• children with disabilities;
• teenage parents;
• children growing up in social housing;
• Black and minority ethnic children; and
• Gypsy and Traveller children.

(Child Poverty Unit, 2009)

Child Poverty costs us all

The moral case for eradicating child poverty rests on the immense human cost of allowing
children to grow up suffering physical and psychological deprivations and unable to participate fully in society. But child poverty is also costly to everyone in Britain, not
just those who experience it directly.

Child poverty costs the country at least £25 billion a year, including £17 billion that could accrue to the Exchequer if child poverty were eradicated. Moving all families above the poverty line would not instantly produce this sum. But in the long term, huge amounts would be saved from not having to pick up the pieces of child poverty and associated social ills.

The facts matter

• Children in low-income households do less well than their better-off peers on many outcomes in life, such as education or health, simply because they are poorer.

• Work does not provide a guaranteed route out of poverty in the UK. Two-thirds (66 per cent) of children growing up in poverty live in a family where at least one member works.

• Strong evidence shows that low-income has an impact firstly on cognitive development and school achievement, followed by social-behavioural development.

• Child poverty costs the country at least £25 billion a year, including £17 billion that could accrue to the Exchequer if child poverty were eradicated

• Public spending to deal with the fallout of child poverty is about £12 billion a year, about 60 per cent of which goes on personal social services, school education and police and criminal justice.

• Under current government policies, child poverty is projected to rise from 2012/13 with an expected 600,000 more children living in poverty by 2015/16. This upward trend is expected to continue with 4.7 million children projected to be living in poverty by 2020.

www.jrf.org.uk/publications/does-money-affect-childrens-outcomes

www.cpag.org.uk/child-poverty-facts-and-figures

The impact of child poverty

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