Child Poverty in the UK Today

Child poverty in the UK today

While the UK is the fifth richest country in the world; 3.9 million children live in poverty. Living below the poverty line means that after rent, electricity and gas bills are paid; a family of four has only £20 per-day for food. The effects of poverty also have huge impacts on children’s futures. A child brought up in poverty stands only half the chance of getting five good GCSEs and has a life expectancy 17 years lower than their wealthier peers. In 1999, the UK government made a commitment to halve child poverty by 2010 and end it by 2020. However, the cycle of poverty continues to destroy childhoods and life chances of the most vulnerable children in the UK.

It’s not fair that parents need to decide between giving their child a hot bath or a hot meal. It’s not fair that some children need to sleep on concrete floors, or parents are unable to buy their child a school uniform.

Together, we can support children to identify the effects that living in poverty has on their lives, and empower them to work with decision-makers to bring about lasting change in their communities.

Our focus in the UK

Save the Children works with children and young people from the poorest 10% of society. In 2009, we re-launched our UK Programme with the commitment to end child poverty in the UK by 2020. In that year alone, we impacted the lives of more than 400,000 children. Our two core programmes empower children in their communities and improve the ability of parents living in poverty to support their children’s development and education. Children’s voices played a huge role in helping us to bring child poverty to the attention of the government. Since the Child Poverty Act became law in March 2010, we have beenworking to support local authorities and public bodies across the UK to develop child poverty plans that include children and young people's voices and opinions. Theseplans aim to show the government what each local authority and public body is doing in their areas to end child poverty by 2020.

Empowering Communities across theUK

The UK government is not on track to meet their goal of ending child poverty by 2020. Public services in poor communities often fail to reach or provide the appropriate support to families most in need. Kate, aged 14 (Save the Children project in Bradford) told us that “local authorities need to look at what services they’re spending their money on and what people want in this area…They’re just looking at what they think would benefit people. They might be asking some people, but they’re asking the wrong people. They need to be asking the people that actually need the services; they need to be asking the people who are actually experiencing poverty.”

Our vision is that all children have the ability, given the right support, to make a difference to their lives and the lives of children and families’ around them. In My Backyard gives young people and families in poverty - those that need it the most -just that support. And through mobilising the voices of hundreds of groups of young people fighting poverty, we will bring a message to government too powerful to ignore.

How does In My Backyard work?

In My Backyardis an innovative and grassroots programme. Each group of 15 children, young people and parents run their own change project in their local area. For six months, theyengage in a series of activities toshare and build their knowledge and understanding on issues important to them in their local community, and create change in that same community. Not only does this impacttheir lives, but also the lives of 150 wider community members. We work in partnership with local community organisations to deliver this20-week programme. By working with local organisations, we influence children and communities, and leave stronger community organisations behind to continue to bring about change into the future. Each group followsa staged plan.

Weeks 1-5: Introduction and team building- The group will:

Learn about poverty and child rights and explore what poverty means for their community.
Learn key advocacy skills such as public speaking and how to work as a group.
Select a key activity to make a difference to child poverty in their community.

Weeks 6-8: Research, learning and training - The group will:

Talk to community members and carryout for example film, photography and internet research.
Research their selected issues and what people are doing about them in the community.
Learn more about local and national decision-making bodies.

Weeks 9-18: Making the change - The group will:

State what they want to change to impact at least 150 children and families living in poverty.
Develop and implement an action plan, identifying the external support they will need.
Access a £1,000 grant from Save the Children to carry out their change project.
Organise community events (such as running open days or cleaning a local park).
Communicate with decision-makers and follow up to ensure they honour their commitments.
Receive training in identified areas of need, such as facilitation, media training and film making.
Produce at least one creative communication tool, such as a film, drama or presentation.
Network with other groups working on similar projects around the UK to share skills and experiences and broaden their horizons.

Weeks 19-20: Celebration and evaluation - The group will:

Monitor the impact and number of children their change has reached.
Hold a celebration event with local community members, local government representatives and other relevant voluntary or statutory agencies.
Influence local practitioners to scale up the work to reach further community members.
Push for local or national policy change and complete a final evaluation.

Local Ambassadors – In My Backyard…

A minumum of nine childrenand young people from each change project will progress to formLocalAmbassadors groups. They will represent their communities and will have a voice in policy and practice at the local, regional and devolved level. The Ambassador groups will come together on a monthly basis to plan and deliver annual End Child Poverty Breakthrough Summits in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast and Cardiff. At the Summit they will present issues and solutions identified by them and through the change projects to at least 100 local practitioners and community representatives.Summits will also be an essential mechanism for ongoing engagement with key decision-makers to influence the development and implementation of their child poverty planning.

UK Ambassadors – In My Backyard…

Children and young people from each Local Ambassadorsgroup across the UK will be linked to a central UK Ambassadors group, bringing their experiences and skills to challenge poverty at a devolved andUK government level. The UK Ambassador groups will work in partnership with Save the Children’s UK Policy and Campaigns Team, receiving additional training on key policy issues, campaigning and influencing decision-makers. Each year, the UKgroup will be supported to create and deliver their own UK-wide call to action, and deliver their own national campaign to support their call. This will help us build strong relationships with politicians and decision-makers. They will hear directly from children and young people experiencing poverty who found solutions that contribute to ending child poverty in their communities across the UK.

“The impact [the project]had on the children involved has been huge, and permanent. Not only havethey become more aware of issues faced by them and their community, but they have grown in confidence and discovered that they can have a voice and bring about change.”

- Angela Piddock, Headteacher at WilberforceSchool in Westminster

Save the Children UK

1 St. John’s Lane

London EC1M 4AR

savethechildren.org.uk

Registered charity in England and Wales (213890) and Scotland (SC039570)

Prepared on behalf of Philanthropy and Partnerships- October 2010