Some young people in England are living in an “almost-Dickensian level of poverty”, the Children’s Commissioner said as she insisted the two-child benefit limit must be scrapped.
Black mould in a bedroom and rats in a kitchen were among some of the examples given by young people for a new report said to reveal the “real hardship” facing some families.
While some feel a sense of shame over their situation, Dame Rachel de Souza said it is “society at large and decision-makers that should be ashamed of the fact that children don’t have enough money”.
The latest official estimates, for the year to March 2024, suggest there were a record 4.45 million children living in poverty in the UK.
The Government is expected to publish a child poverty strategy in autumn, and a multitude of campaign groups have said it must contain a commitment to do away with the two-child benefit limit.
The limit, which came into effect under the Conservatives in April 2017, restricts child tax credit and universal credit (UC) to the first two children in most households.
Organisations working in the sector argue that 109 children across the UK are pulled into poverty by the policy every day and that an estimated 350,000 children would be lifted out of poverty immediately if it was scrapped.
But comments by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson at the weekend have raised concerns the policy might not be done away with, amid financial pressures following the U-turn on welfare reforms.
Ms Phillipson said spending decisions have been made “harder” after the watering down of the welfare reforms.
Pressed on whether the chances of the benefit cap going are now slimmer, Ms Phillipson told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “The decisions that have been taken in the last week do make decisions, future decisions harder.
“But all of that said, we will look at this collectively in terms of all of the ways that we can lift children out of poverty.”
Estimates for the cost of scrapping the policy vary, from around £2.6 billion to £3.5 billion by the end of this Parliament (2029/30).
Dame Rachel – whose office was commissioned to carry out its report to feed into the Government’s work in the area – said while there is “no quick fix to ending child poverty”, she feels it is “very clear that any child poverty strategy must be built on the foundation of scrapping the two-child limit”.
She added that a new approach is needed which “stops sidelining children’s voices”, saying that “only by listening to children, and acting in response, will we get close to solving those problems”.
The commissioner said in recent years she has seen a change in children’s comments, noting that issues traditionally seen as “adult” concerns “are now keenly felt by children, who see their parents’ worries and the struggles they face: the hours they work, the homes they live in and the ability to put food on the table”.
She added: “Children shared harrowing accounts of hardship, with some in almost-Dickensian levels of poverty.
“They don’t talk about ‘poverty’ as an abstract concept but about not having the things that most people would consider basic: a safe home that isn’t mouldy or full or rats, with a bed big enough to stretch out in, ‘luxury’ food like bacon, a place to do homework, heating, privacy in the bathroom and being able to wash, having their friends over, and not having to travel hours to school.”
While commending “some positive steps by the Government to get more money into families’ pockets”, she urged “bold, practical measures that break the link between a child’s background and their opportunities”.
The commissioner’s report, based on the experiences of 128 children across the country between January and March this year, noted a range of concerns including lack of access to quality, healthy food and living in cramped and poor conditions.
As well as calling for the two-child benefit limit to be scrapped, Dame Rachel urged a commitment to a so-called “triple-lock” for uprating all child-related benefits, reforms to ensure families are not being housed in temporary bed and breakfast accommodation for longer than the legal six-week limit, free bus travel for all school-aged children in England and better safety measures in areas with children in low-income families including increased street lighting, and more neighbourhood watch-style initiatives.
A Government spokesperson said: “We are determined to bring down child poverty. We’ve just announced a new £1 billion package to reform crisis support, including funding to ensure the poorest children do not go hungry outside of term time.
“This comes alongside the expansion to free breakfast clubs, investing £39 billion in social and affordable housing, increasing the national minimum wage and supporting 700,000 of the poorest families by introducing a Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.
“As part of our plan for change, the Child Poverty Taskforce will publish an ambitious strategy later this year to ensure we deliver fully-funded measures that tackle the structural and root causes of child poverty across the country.”
