UK Children facing the winter without warm coats or hot dinners

Children have been heading back for the new school year without warm winter coats and small shoes, as parents don’t have the money to pay for new ones.

It’s not just shoes and coats that are not forthcoming, but a fifth of children living in poverty miss out on school trips because their parents can’t afford them.

One in ten of the UK’s poorest parents have had to cut back on the family meal, with parents skipping meals for themselves.

It’s not always the children of benefit claimants who are struggling, but those of families struggling on low incomes who are in paid work.

More renowned for its international work, Save The Children is trying to show the extent of which poverty is hitting UK children and parents in their It Shouldn’t Happen Here report.

The charity spoke to more than 1500 children and 5000 parents for their report. Ultimately, they are aiming to raise £500,000 to help fund their work in the UK.

One in eight of the poorest children in the UK go without at least one hot meal a day, and one in ten of the UK’s poorest parents have cut back on food for them to make sure their children have enough to eat, the report reveals.

A total of 43 per cent of children have to see their parents cutting back on food and clothes for themselves, with 27 per cent of low income parents skipping meals because they couldn’t afford food.

One eleven year old saud: “My mum makes sacrifices so that I can do the hobbies I want to do to keep me off the streets. She cuts back on buying herself new shoes and clothes.”

Save the Children’s Chief Executive, Justin Forsyth said: “No child should see their parent going hungry or start the new term without a warm coat and with holes in their shoes. Poverty is tearing families apart, with parents buckling under the pressure of mounting bills and children seeing their parents argue more about money. That’s why for the first time in our history we are launching a UK appeal. We need to help poor families survive the recession”

More employers need to pay the living wage to help lift parents and children out of poverty, the charity is telling the Government.