The harsh reality for the 3.5 million children growing up in poverty in the UK was revealed in a recent BBC documentary by BAFTA winning film-makers Brian Woods and Jezza Neumann. Worrying new research has shown many children in Britain have little chance of escaping the poverty they live in.
Tuesday 7 June 2011
Recent research by the OECD revealed that children growing up in poverty in the UK are the least likely to be able to escape deprivation compared to children in other rich countries. It found that Britain has the lowest social mobility compared to the other 12 most advanced western countries.
‘Poor Kids’, made by True Vision, was aired earlier this month on BBC 1, and showed the devastating impact poverty has had on the lives four children Courtney (8), Paige (10), Sam (11) and Kayleigh (16) — from not having enough food to eat, to being bullied at school because their school uniform is worn and doesn't fit. 16-year-old sister Kayleigh tells how the effects of poverty led her to take extreme measures to try and escape it all by attempting suicide.
“Until dad gets a job we don’t have any money and sometimes I don’t get lunch and I have to save my hunger for when dinner comes and I eat it all,” said Sam (11), whose dad is a single parent.
Number of children living in poverty is expected to rise
Save the Children, who worked with Brian Woods on the documentary, warns this is particularly worrying as the number of children living in poverty is expected to rise over the next couple of years.
“It’s appalling to think that the children in this documentary have little chance of escaping the poverty they live in,” said Sally Copley, Save the Children’s UK Head of Poverty. “Children born into poor families cannot be condemned to spending the rest of their life struggling to get enough food to eat or clothes to wear. As one of the richest countries in the world we must do far more to break this toxic cycle.”
Copley outlined some of the reasons for Britain’s low levels of social mobility. “If you're on a low income, you're unlikely to be able to access decent affordable credit and so end up paying more for your gas and electricity, for example. You're going to find it harder to find a job that pays enough to make it worthwhile working and still lets you be there for your children at the beginning and end of the day. Childcare costs …are just so much more in this country, it can be really difficult to break out of poverty.”
Our new report, ‘Telling it like it is’, has stories from children about the reality of growing up in poverty and looks into key factors that cause poverty:
- low family income
- educational achievement
- the impact of poor housing and neighbourhoods.