Children North East has joined more than 150 charities, teachers and frontline services to issue a joint statement calling on the Government to prioritise this generation of children alongside health and the economy in their Coronavirus recovery plans.

The statement, ahead of this week’s Prime Minister’s speech and the Chancellor’s mini budget in July, underlines that today’s children and young people are facing unprecedented threats to their childhoods and futures. As well as the disruption to their schooling, living standards and family lives caused by the crisis, they have been growing up at a time where services protecting children are at breaking point, school budgets are under pressure and job losses are soaring.

With family budgets under enormous pressure, organisations including Action for Children, Barnardo’s, National Children’s Bureau, NSPCC, The Children’s Society, Children North East and many others, have joined forces to urge the Government to prioritise and protect vulnerable children and young people.

As well as giving financial support to shore up family finances, the Prime Minister is being called upon to protect the most vulnerable children and young people, including those with disabilities, mental health difficulties, children who have suffered abuse and those from minority communities.

Those working with children will be essential in getting the country back on its feet and investment in this must play a central part in the Chancellor’s plans, including funding for local authority children’s services that step in early to help children before families reach breaking point as well as mental health and wellbeing support for children returning to school.

The statement and the full list of 152 organisations supporting is available here: www.ncb.org.uk/childrenattheheartofrecovery.

Low-income families are the hardest hit by school closure costs according to our Cost of the School Day partners, Child Poverty Action Group.

The findings demonstrate that more support is needed for children and parents during current and future disruptions to school life.

The survey shows:

• 40% of low-income families report they were missing at least one essential resource to support their children’s learning – one third of the families who are most worried about money have had to buy a laptop, tablet or other equipment.
• Replacement of free school meals is greatly valued by parents and has been critical to helping families make ends meet. Payments directly into parents’ bank accounts are much more popular than a voucher scheme. 81% of families receiving direct payments said this was working extremely or very well for them, compared with 60% of families receiving vouchers that can be spent in more than one supermarket, 46% of families having food delivered, 36% of families collecting food and 35% of families receiving vouchers cards usable in only one supermarket
• Children and young people value contact with teachers and classmates – secondary school pupils were more likely to report doing ‘a lot’ of schoolwork at home if they are regularly keeping in touch with teachers.
• When children can go back to school parents’ primary concern is children’s wellbeing. Emotional support for returning children was deemed by parents to be the most important factor. When asked how schools can help, one in three raised this as a top priority.

The survey of 3600 parents and carers and 1300 children and young people in England, Scotland and Wales was carried out by CPAG’s ‘UK Cost of the School Day’ project, run in partnership with Children North East, during May 2020. It explored experiences of learning during lockdown, to understand how families – particularly those on low incomes – were supported when the Covid-19 pandemic forced schools across the UK to close their doors to the majority of pupils.

Negative outcomes magnified by Covid crisis

It found that Covid-19 magnified some of the factors that contribute to negative outcomes associated with children growing up in poverty. The low-income parents and carers responding to the survey were just as likely to be concerned with helping their children to continue learning through lockdown.

However, they reported facing significantly more stress and worry around home learning and household finances than parents and carers in better off homes.

Alison Garnham, Chief Executive of CPAG said:

“All parents want the best for their children and to support their learning. As we move towards new approaches to schooling, such as a mix of home and school-based learning, the school day must be poverty proofed regardless of where learning is taking place so that all children can take part in the whole curriculum.”

Luke Bramhall, Children North East’s School Research and Delivery Service Manager, added:

“It’s really powerful understanding the challenges that families and their children have been facing and, while schools have been working incredibly hard to support their most vulnerable children, this report gives us a great deal of learning that will help us to support schools as they begin to shape their ‘new normal’.”

Key findings

Other key findings in the report, entitled ‘The Cost of Learning in Lockdown – family experiences of school closures’ include:

● Around a third of all families who responded said that they were enjoying learning at home, and these families were much less likely to report having money worries or lacking the resources they needed. Families who were worried about money were more likely to say they found it difficult to continue their children’s education at home.

● Children and young people valued being able to communicate with their teachers online, but phone calls were also highly appreciated by those that had received them. Parents and carers valued schools that took the time to understand their particular circumstances and offer personalised support.

● Pupils who said that they were having infrequent or no contact with their schools reported doing much less work. Pupils who reported doing a lot of work at home were more likely to report that their schools had provided them with the resources to help them work at home.

● Socioeconomic status did not hugely influence parental views about returning to school. Many were supportive of a gradual, phased approach with a primary emphasis on social and emotional support.

The surveys found that the Covid-19 pandemic has been a hugely varied experience for families across the UK. Schools are likely to find that pupils are coming back to class having lived through very different lockdown experiences over the last few months. While learning loss and inequitable academic progress rightly concern educators and policymakers, parents and young people have told us they are equally concerned with the longer-term effects of increased social isolation and household stress.

Families believe that schools have a vital role to play in helping children come to terms with the pandemic and the disruption it has caused to their childhoods. More than anything, children and young people told us they are desperate to reconnect with their friends. They view returning to school as their main opportunity to do this, and educators are now faced with the challenge of managing these expectations, while ensuring safety in their schools.

Calls to action

Support with costs and resources

• Increase child benefit by £10 per child per week.
• Provide all children with the learning tools needed for the curriculum, at home or at school.
• Schools should be properly funded to remove barriers to learning.
• Information regarding financial support and entitlements must reach families.
• Alternatives to free school meals: (The report was written before the Government’s announcement on free school meal provision following Marcus Rashford’s intervention). Cash payments should replace the value of free school meals.
• The earnings threshold for eligibility for free school meals should be urgently reviewed.

Supporting pupil wellbeing

• Schools should maintain regular contact with pupils and families to support learning and wellbeing.
• Schools should implement poverty aware approaches, policies and practices as pupils return.

Returning to school

• Children and young people want to spend time with their friends and teachers and feel ‘normal’ again.
• Families must be involved in planning for the return to school.

Two ex-premiership footballers, John Moncur of West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur fame, and Don Hutchison, who played for Sunderland, Everton, West Ham and Scotland, have both made heartfelt videos in support of our urgent appeal.

The football legends both wanted to highlight the struggles North East children are facing as a result of the Coronavirus crisis, and to showcase the ways in which Children North East has adapted its services in order to carry on working with vulnerable babies, children, young people and their families.  They also wanted to let you know that our charity still needs your support to help more people.

John Moncur says:

There are more families trapped in poverty in the North East than most other parts of England. So it’s vital they can access support now and in the months to come.

Don Hutchison says:

In this difficult time, when Covid-19 is around, they (Children North East) are supplying food parcels and online counselling for anyone affected.

If you can afford to donate £5, please text HOPE to 70490.  Texts cost £5 plus your standard rate message.

Expectant mum, Stacey, is just six weeks away from giving birth to her first baby – an exciting and special time in normal circumstances – yet she is surrounded by uncertainty.

Covid-19 means that the hospital she’s booked in to has had to cancel any antenatal classes and she still doesn’t know who her birth partner will be because her sister, who was going to fulfill that role, is currently working amongst Coronavirus patients.

She describes being pregnant in the midst of a pandemic as simply ‘terrifying’.

“I’m a first time mum and all the antenatal classes have been cancelled so it’s kind of like I’m going into it a bit blind. There are a few online classes but I think a lot of pregnant women do the courses specifically to meet other mums.

“It can be quite lonely having a newborn so having the opportunity to meet other mums in your area is part of why most of us do the courses.”

Thankfully, Stacey, who’s an online English teacher, has been able to access our NEWPIP (Newcastle Parent Infant Partnership) service, the only project of its kind in the region and one of only 27 nationally. It provides a range of help for mums and dads to encourage bonding between parent and child.

Heightened anxiety

Stacey has been receiving online psychotherapeutic counselling from our professional parent infant therapist, Marie Clark. Stacey said: “It’s been very useful especially as I already suffered from anxiety prior to pregnancy.

Coronavirus didn’t help the situation, it made me feel even more anxious because I was trapped in the house all the time so it’s been invaluable to be honest. They’ve helped me a lot. I had a meltdown a couple of weeks ago but my therapist, Marie, was fantastic. She talked me through it and calmed me down.

Marie says it’s a worrying time for anyone, particularly for expectant and new mums. “A lot of what we do at the moment is helping people feel less anxious. A lot of what worries people is about what’s happening and how it’s going to impact on them and their babies.

“Normally we go to people’s houses but at the moment it’s all over the telephone or online.

We work alongside people to understand what’s going on and help people think about ways they can be creative – how they might plan their day to go out safely or how they can keep in touch with people for example. It is tricky, it’s a highly anxious time and when people are already having difficulties, it really is adding an extra layer.

Because some parents and parents-to-be don’t have computer access, Children North East would like to be able to offer computer tablets for them to borrow so that they can have face-to-face counselling online and so they can join in with our ‘Boogie Bairns’ music sessions.

NEWPIP service manager, Lesley Hutchinson said: “We’d love to be able to source six computer tablets which would really help those parents and parents-to-be who don’t have access to our online counselling face-to-face at present.”

If you work for a company who can help with either new or nearly-new technology, please contact: [email protected]

New support line

Our NEWPIP team have responded to the Covid-19 crisis by launching a special Support Line for parents and expectant parents.

If you are expecting a baby or have a baby or toddler under the age of two, our friendly and experienced team are here to help.

To find out more, call Janice in our NEWPIP team on 0191 2399956 Monday-Friday between 10am-4pm and she will arrange for you to speak to a member of our team.

The End Child Poverty coalition with Loughborough University has published an analysis of new Government data that tracks four years of child poverty across Britain before housing costs are taken into account (2014/15-2018/19). The report highlights those parts of the country where children are most likely to have been swept into poverty since 2014.

According to the research, the North East of England has seen the starkest increase in the country with numbers rising by 6.5 percentage points over the past four years alone, leaving families in the region ill equipped to cope with the impact of the pandemic.

The worst hit area in the region is Middlesbrough where over a third (37%) of children are living in poverty, before housing costs are taken into account. That’s closely followed by Newcastle (28%), Hartlepool (27%), South Tyneside (26%), and Gateshead (21%).

Even before the devastating impact of Covid-19 on household incomes, almost a quarter of children (24%) in the North East were living in poverty – and the region has seen the most dramatic rise in the proportion of children below the breadline.

Ambitious strategy needed to end child poverty

The End Child Poverty coalition is calling on the Government to take seriously the four year rise in child poverty – predominantly in working families – and to commit to an ambitious and comprehensive strategy to end child poverty in the UK as it plans the nation’s recovery from Coronavirus, which campaigners fear will only have deepened child poverty and drawn more families below the poverty line.

Recent ONS analysis, carried out 17-27 April 2020, shows just under one in four adults (23%) said the Coronavirus crisis was affecting their household finances. The most common impact in this group was reduced income (70%), and nearly half saying they had needed to use savings or borrow to cover living costs.

Campaigners are fearful that the added impact of Covid-19 on household budgets could push struggling families over the edge and are urging the Government to immediately increase the amount of money in families’ pockets. The coalition is calling on the Government to set out an ambitious strategy to reverse the increases and make ending child poverty a priority for the nation’s future economic recovery.

Some children six times more likely to grow up in poverty

The report’s analysis shows how unequal the country is with children in some parts six times more likely to be growing up in poverty than in less deprived areas. While child poverty is deteriorating across better and worse off areas of the country proportionately, those places starting off with a high rate see more additional children pulled into poverty.

Imran Hussain, director of policy and campaigns at fellow charity, Action for Children, said:“We may all be experiencing the storm of Coronavirus together, but we are not all in the same boat.

Children in the North East are some of the most exposed to the devastating economic consequences of this crisis and are at severe risk of being swept deeper into poverty. Families who were already struggling to keep their heads above water are now living in fear that they can’t afford to keep their children and babies warm and well fed.

“That’s why we are asking the Government to strengthen the social security system which is there to hold us steady during tough times, by immediately increasing household income for struggling families. Ending child poverty must be at the heart our plan for economic recovery, so that when this crisis is over all children can enjoy a safe and happy life, thrive at school and have opportunities for the future.”

Jane Streather, chair of the North East Child Poverty Commission, said: “It’s deeply concerning that the North East has seen the biggest increase in child poverty rates over the last few years, and these figures demonstrate just how many families in our region were already struggling to make ends meet, even before the Coronavirus crisis hit.

“Of course this terrible pandemic is not only exacerbating existing inequalities, but seeing many more families in our region being pulled into the grip of poverty as a result. It’s not right that tens of thousands of children and young people in the North East are facing such hardship and Ministers must act urgently to boost the incomes of families.

“The Government must also put a comprehensive strategy to end child poverty front and centre of the post-Covid recovery, with a social security system which provides a genuine safety net in difficult times. For children, that must include a significant rise in Child Benefit.”

Children North East has launched a range of new services to respond to the effects on North East children of the Coronavirus pandemic. You can donate to help this work here.

Dad-of-two, Tommy Wanless is rowing the length of three North East rivers throughout May  to help the region’s babies, children, young people and their families.

He’s just finished rowing the 137-km Tees and is moving on to the Wear (97km) before taking on the 118-km Tyne – all from the comfort of his back garden in Newbiggin, Newcastle.

And he’s saving the last 31 kilometres to row on May 31^st when he celebrates his thirty-first birthday.

Boogie Bairns baby

Tommy found out about the work of Children North East because his one-year-old baby daughter, Polly, enjoys the charity’s Boogie Bairns sessions with her mum, Louise Aitchison.

“It’s been really good for Polly’s development over the last year and it’s helped Lou a lot post-pregnancy too,” Tommy said.

The baby music sessions run by Youth Music project coordinator, Kimberley Bain, have moved online during lockdown and are available free to any parents of babies and children under five who’d like to join in.

Tommy is performing his challenge on a Concept2 rowing machine loaned to him by North East businessman and philanthropist, Sir Graham Wylie, who founded the sporting equipment company Tommy works for, Speedflex.

Although he had never rowed more than ten km in his life, Tommy is averaging around 11 km a day now to get him to his 351 km target.

Fancy dress

He’s been helped on his way by friends joining in on their own rowing machines via Zoom. Tommy’s also injected some fun into his charity challenge by dressing up in different outfits, much to the delight of his older daughter, Lola, who’s four.

“Lola dressed me up as a fairy one day,” Tommy said. “And on May 4^th – Star Wars Day – I dressed up as Darth Vader. It’s made lockdown quite enjoyable!”

Tommy added that he chose Children North East, not just because he wanted to ensure the charity was able to continue with projects like Boogie Bairns, but because of the disadvantaged children that benefit from its services. He said:

“I must stress Children North East help a vast number of children who come from all sorts of backgrounds who need far more help than many of us could ever imagine.”