From the CEO: Children North East’s response to the Spring Statement? Funding for childcare but without children at the heart

Today, our Chief Executive Leigh Elliott shares the charity’s response to the Spring Statement and its ask for the Chancellor to reconsider his decision not to give better protections to babies, children and young people living in poverty. 

 

The expansion of funding for childcare announced in the Spring Statement masks the reality that there are no real measures to tackle the underlying causes of soaring child poverty in the UK.

The headline announcement in this week’s Spring Statement will be very welcome for families struggling with the high cost of childcare. But it doesn’t tackle the issues of low wages, insecure employment or a broken Social Security system keeping 3.9 million children in the UK trapped in poverty, and there is limited help for families battling with the rising cost of living.  

Children North East are disappointed that the Chancellor missed the opportunity provided by the Spring Statement to take decisive action on the causes of spiralling child poverty.

Children North East are disappointed that the Chancellor missed the opportunity provided by the Spring Statement to take decisive action on the causes of spiralling child poverty, and improve the chances of all babies, children and young people to grow up happy and healthy. Whilst we welcome some of the measures announced, the reality is they don’t go far enough in helping families struggling with the cost of living now, or reducing child poverty over the long term.  

The move to end the premium paid by energy customers on pre-payment meters is long overdue, and we are relieved with the decision to delay the increase of the energy price cap. However, the current cap is still almost double the amount it was a year ago, and is one of the biggest causes of increased hardship for families. Moreover, with Local Housing Allowance still frozen and rents going up (Homelet Rental Index, March 2023), even more money will be eaten up in housing costs, with little left to cover the basics. 

The OBR’s sobering analysis that living standards are expected to fall by 6% over this fiscal year and next, comes after years of cuts and benefit freezes, which have left hundreds of thousands of families with nothing left to cut back on. It is frustrating that the government has ignored calls to extend Free School Meals to all families on Universal Credit, or to increase Child Benefit to give families the cash they need to put food on the table. In the light of the Mayor of London announcing Universal Free School Meals for Primary School children in London, the government failing to match this commitment for children across the rest of the country will increase inequalities for children in places like the North East, which has the highest child poverty rate in England. 

The Chancellor has set out that his priority is to get more people into work, and we know that in the long-term, work is one of the best ways of lifting families out of poverty. The 30 hours funding for Childcare for 1 and 2 year olds will make a big difference to many working families. But the majority of parents with children under five say they would like to spend more time with their children but feel they can’t afford to (Centre for Social Justice). Attachments with a consistent primary caregiver in the first two years are vitally important for child development (Parent Infant Foundation), and it is important that the government value the role parents play in their children’s lives, not just their contribution to the economy.  

Guarantee the essentials, so that our social security system provides a genuine safety net for families on low incomes.

The main causes of child poverty, particularly in the North East, are wages failing to keep up with inflation (North East Child Poverty Commission) and a benefits system that fails to provide families what families need to cover the basics. We echo the calls of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to guarantee the essentials, so that our social security system provides a genuine safety net for families on low incomes. Deductions from benefits payments because of debt or sanctions are already a leading reason for families’ income falling below the minimum they need to live on (North East Child Poverty Commission), so we are concerned about proposals to extend the use of sanctions further. Rather than moving people closer to the labour market, there is a risk it will push some of the most vulnerable families further into poverty and destitution.  

Children North East urges the chancellor to reconsider how the government protects children in poverty facing even greater hardship over the next two years, and to focus not just on how to get parents back to work, but how to build a prosperous future for everyone, and one which puts the wellbeing of babies, children and young people at its heart.