Divided British society: Government ignores child poverty | Outside Views

Almost one in four children in Britain live in poverty. But the government doesn’t care much. The suffering of many families could soon become even worse.

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Almost one in four children in Britain live in poverty but the government doesn’t really care much about this the suffering of many families could soon become even worse in English schools Advent means packing presents every year students are asked to fill a shoe box with what a poor child might need

Colored pencils a puzzle or small stuffed animal sunglasses or glitter nail polish and don’t forget the toothbrush and the students are then told that the boxes will be sent around the world as Christmas packages to poor children while parents argue about whether missionary American evangelists are behind the campaign and poor

Children need sunglasses there are 138,139 in breakfast rooms and hostels living in constant uncertainty around 23% of children in Great Britain or around 3.3 million are affected by so-called absolute poverty this means that the real income of their parents household is less than 60% of the median British income poverty in

Great Britain has improved over the past 20 years due to better labor market conditions and more support for socially disadvantaged households but because the special payments for the corona pandemic were expiring and inflation is particularly difficult for low-income households the situation of many families is now getting worse again the

Resolution Foundation estimates that 12 million people will be living in absolute poverty next year including more than 4 million children according to the child poverty Action Group more than a million children are already living in misery and this means that parents cannot even regularly afford accommodation food heating lighting clothing shoes and

Necessary hygiene items the number has almost tripled in the past 5 years and the problem cannot be blamed on migration according to the Joseph Roundtree Foundation 72% of people living in squala are British how is it that so many people are affected by poverty in one of the richest Western countries today’s

Low-wage job Zero Hour contracts and bogus self-employment are so often so poorly paid that they cannot lift the family out of poverty and that’s why there are entire streets and big cities where families survive on state aid where the third generation already says they are on the sick and too sick to

Work and more than 2.6 million people are no longer economically active in Great Britain that’s 500,000 more than before the corona pandemic the center for social justice recently published a study entitled two Nations a reference to the divided British Society between rich and poor it says for the

Families work is hardly worth it anymore their lives are shaped by Generations whose families have broken up again and again whose environment is torn apart by drugs alcoholism and crime they live in miserable unaffordable and unsafe living conditions and they are sick many children are born poor and more

Than half are born to mothers who are not married or do not have a permanent partner around 23% of British families have only one parent in the home unlike in the EU where this applies to an average of 133% of households the class difference is striking as well according

To the Center for social justice 71% of parents with good earnings are married while only 34% are married to socially disadvantage AG parents cultural reasons also play a role the proportion of single parents is rather low among people of Asian origin families with roots in the Caribbean or

Africa on the other hand are more often headed by only one parent and the the slums are concentrated in the old industrial cities such as Liverpool Hartlepool Noley and Halton but also in London and around 2.6 million children do not have a father who lives at home

And could for example be a role model for boys Charities like let’s need DS are stepping in it’s an organization of men whose goal is to strengthen the self-esteem of boys and encourage them the men read to boys in elementary school so that they learn that reading

Is just as important and desirable for men as it is for women and thus motivate motivate them to read for themselves and more than 80% of single households with children are had by women single mothers often struggle to combine work in and child care British families have to pay

More of their income for child care than in any other oecd country many mothers therefore work all day long and into the night and they have to rely on the children to manage themselves after school there used to be child benefit for every child in the family but the

Conservative government ended this in 2016 since then support has only been available for two children at the same time the government has not increased housing benefits since 2013 in line with rapidly Rising rents meaning that poorer families can hardly find affordable housing for some families this results

In a chain of unpredictable moves with inevitable consequences for the children and friendships are destroyed contact with family members breaks off and getting into the new school does doesn’t work and the social work has changed all the time as well during the corona pandemic this vicious cycle was broken

The government banned homeowners from putting socially disadvantaged people out on the streets increased housing benefit and paid more support but this state a is running out it’s often the child who suffers then according to the Center for social justice there are 140,000 students in the country who Miss

More school lessons than they attend school and more than half of disadvantaged young people leave school without having reached the standard required for at least a reasonably good job however all of this hardly plays a role in British politics child poverty is not a popular Topic in fact it is

Never an issue only when Christmas packages are packed with glitter nail polish and stuffed animals the conservative party which which is currently still in power has traditionally been associated with free market economics and the belief that the government should not interfere too much in people’s lives this philosophy can

Make it difficult to justify policies that would require the government to spend money on social programs such as those that are designed to help children in poverty another factor that may be contributing to the government’s reluctance to address children child poverty is the rise of populism in the

UK populist politicians often focus on the concerns of workingclass Voters and they may be reluctant to support policies that would benefit the poorest members of society such as children in poverty and this is because they may fear that such policies could alienate their core supporters despite these challenges

There are a number of things that the British government could do to address child poverty and these include for example investing in early years education research has shown that early years education can have a significant impact on children’s outcomes in later life the government should increase funding for early years education

Programs such as sure start or of course raising the minimum wage low wages are a major cause of child poverty the government could raise the minimum wage wage to ensure that all workers can earn enough to support their families and that should be the least and another point would be investing in

Affordable housing the lack of affordable housing is a major problem for many families in poverty the government could invest in building more affordable housing or it could provide more support to those those who are struggling to pay their rent or mortgage and of course one of the major

Points is to improve access to education and Health Care children in poverty often have less access to education and healthare Healthcare than their wealthier peers the government could improve access to these and by investing in schools hospitals and other public services but that’s a bigger issue that

Affect even more people and if you want to know more the next video is right here on the end screen I’ll see you there I’ll be back