The Impact of Poverty

Living in poverty can compromise a child or young person’s aspirations, health, well-being and achievements. Education settings play an essential role in easing this impact and creating opportunities. 

According to the latest parliamentary research on poverty in the UK, the rising costs of living means income is set to fall for everyone over the next two years, and child poverty is expected to reach its highest levels since the late 1990s by 2028. 

A child’s life chances are dependent upon a complex combination of household income, equality of opportunities and level of social inclusion. While some children who grow up in low-income households will go on to achieve their full potential, many others will not. Poverty places strains on family life, excludes children from the everyday activities of their peers and can lead to homelessness. 

Tackling child poverty will help to improve children’s lives today, and enhance their life chances, enabling them to make the most of their talents, achieve their full potential in life and pass on the benefits to their own children. 

Extent of poverty 

The turbulence of the Covid-19 pandemic has transformed into a cost-of-living crisis, and some families are having to choose between essentials such as food and heating.  

Many of the groups who were already struggling with poverty have borne the brunt of the covid pandemic, including part-time workers, low-paid workers, those in accommodation and hospitality services, lone-parent families, Black and minority ethnic households, and those in rented properties. Now, they’re struggling to afford the essentials. 

The latest annual report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says the cost-of-living crisis is having a wide-ranging effect on poorer households who have less of a buffer against rising costs.  

• 4.2 million children are living in poverty. (Poverty in the UK, 2023) 
• Around 4-in-10 families are spending less on food for their children. (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2023) 
• A survey of 1,000 family support workers revealed nearly half of the children they worked with live in destitution, meaning they are going without the essentials needed to eat and stay warm, dry, and clean. (Buttle UK, 2022) 
• More than 1-in-7 parents said their child(ren) had to share a bed because they can’t afford another bed. (Barnardo’s, 2023) 

Poverty and safeguarding 

Parents struggling to make ends meet can feel anger or sometimes guilt at the unfairness they see affecting their children. Most do a tremendous job of minimising the impact wherever they can, trying to ensure their children are well cared for and feel valued. 

However, poverty can be a factor in children being at risk of harm due to the stresses it creates in families and the limitations it places on choice, even though it is not a safeguarding matter in itself. It can lead to safeguarding concerns such as: 

• children’s basic needs not being met (food, warmth, clothing); 
• social isolation; 
• the impact of stress within a household (including emotional abuse or domestic abuse); 
• effects on learning and development; 
• the impact of long working hours (e.g., increasing strains on relationships, reducing the supervision of children); 
• caring responsibilities; 
• poor self-esteem and emotional health issues (in child and/or parent); 
• a risk of substance misuse (in child and/or parent).