Families living below the poverty line have revealed that the summer holiday period is unaffordable and one of the most difficult times of year to make ends meet.
Monday 13 August 2007
In a new briefing on Child Poverty and Income (PDF 334KB) from the Campaign to End Child Poverty, parents say that they struggle to afford basic activities for their children during the summer holidays, including going swimming or to a local play centre.
One mother said: "I would love to take my children swimming but I can't afford it and could not afford the transport to the swimming pool."
The briefing also reveals that over half of lone parent families are unable to take their children away even for a week during the summer holidays, and that with the extra weekly cost of not having free school meals, families struggle to get by.
Hilary Fisher, Director of the Campaign to End Child Poverty, said: "Summer holidays can be a strain for any parent. But imagine not having enough money for food when free school meals are not there, or explaining why school friends can fly off to Spain, but even a day out to the coast or a theme park is too much to afford. This is the reality of child poverty in the summer holidays for millions of UK children."
Kate Green, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group and board member of End Child Poverty, said: "Poor families tell us the school summer break is simply not affordable with extra childcare costs, more food to pay for, back to school costs and finding activities for the kids. Improving the incomes of the poorest families is the best way to ensure the summer break is a time of rest and play, not greater stress and worry."
Colette Marshall, UK Director of Save the Children and board member of End Child Poverty, said: "The summer holidays are six long weeks for families living on the lowest incomes. The Government has to ensure that families have enough to live on, and that means making work pay for parents and providing the £4 billion investment needed to increase poor families' incomes and halve child poverty by 2010."
-ENDS-
Notes to Editors
- A case study may be available to print media. Please contact Tim Nichols, Child Poverty Action Group, on 020 7812 5612 or 07816 909302.
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The briefing calculates that the £4 billion needed to meet the halfway child poverty target in 2010 is the equivalent to:
- 1/6 of what British people will spend on foreign holidays this year
- less than half of the £8.8 billion handed out in city bonuses last year
- 0.3% of UK's GDP.
- Child poverty is one of Gordon Brown's priorities but the Government currently has a significant amount of ground to make up to meet the Government's target of halving child poverty by 2010. While 600,000 children have been lifted out of poverty between 1998/99 and 2005/06, a further 1 million must be lifted out of poverty by 2010/11 to meet the target.
- The Campaign to End Child Poverty is calling for the new Prime Minster and new Chancellor to ensure that the opportunity provided by the Comprehensive Spending Review and Pre-Budget Report this year is used to provide the £4 billion annual investment that independent analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests is necessary to meet the Government’s target of halving child poverty by 2010.
- Copies of the 'Child Poverty and Income' briefing from the Campaign to End Child Poverty will be available from Monday 13th August 2007 from:: http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/.
For further information please contact:
Thomas Yocum
End Child Poverty Communications Manager
Tel. 020 7278 6745 or 07815 810 773.
Thomas@ecpc.org.uk
http://www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/