Report: “The plight of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children in the UK is deteriorating”
Worsening child poverty in the UK
By
Barry Mason
19 August 2017
A new report issued by Buttle UK, “The Real Face of Child Poverty in the UK in 2017,” paints a picture of the desperate financial plight of many families.
Buttle UK is a charity that disburses grants to needy children. Its chief executive, Gerri McAndrew, said, “While this is not a state of emergency, it is beginning to look like one. Urgent action needs to be taken.”
Buttle UK is the largest charity directly dispensing grants to families with children and young people in need. Over the last 10 years it has had 125,000 requests. The database of these requests means the charity has been able to make a detailed analysis of life in the UK for millions of poor children, who have suffered as years of brutal austerity measures have been unleashed on them by successive Labour and Conservative governments and local authorities of all political stripes.
The foreword to the report notes: “The plight of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children in the UK is deteriorating—more are living in poverty than at any time in the last 10 years. Government figures show that the number rose by 200,000 in 2014/15, the first increase in levels of child poverty since 2011-12. It meant there are now 3.9 children across the UK living below the breadline.”
This means, taking the Office of National Statistics figure for 2016, that of 11 million children under 18 in the UK, a third are living below the breadline.
One item the charity is asked to provide for children is a bed, and since 2006 it has given out 13,000 beds. The need is rising, and in 2015/2016 alone it gave out 3,000 beds. This represents around a…