Inquiry into hunger and food poverty
Written submission, October 2015
About The Children’s Society
The Children’s Society is a national charity that runs local projects to support children and young people who are at risk of exploitation or harm, living in care or let down by the systems meant to protect them.
In total, we worked with 34,893 children and young people, providing intensive support to 15,820, in 2014/15. We ran a total of 127 services across England, which includes 88 targeted services through which we had sustained contact with 5,658 young people aged between five and 24.
In addition, we saw 29,235 under-fives and gave intensive support to 10,162 through our network of 39 children’s centres.
We see every day the lengths to which parents will go to protect their children from its sharp effects, how they are battling to pay the bills and find enough money for food, childcare and other everyday basics.
Introduction
This submission follows the evidence that we provided in September 2014 on food poverty and the use of foodbanks. Whilst the driving factors for children going hungry, and the use of foodbanks, have not fundamentally changed, evidence suggests that the extent to which these circumstances are present is increasing.
Government data released in July[1] revealed that whilst child poverty remained static between 2012/13 and 2013/14 at 3.7m children in poverty after housing costs (AHC), the number of children in families living on less than 50% of medium income has risen from 2.2m to 2.4m – meaning that there are 200,000 more children living in the most severe poverty.
A joint National Union of Teachers and Child Poverty Action Group survey of 1,478 teachers in England and Wales[2] found that 85 per cent of teachers had seen an increase in the number of children coming to school hungry in the last two years. A further 88 per cent had seen an increase in the proportion of children unable to concentrate in class.
Recent evidence[3] from the Trussell Trust has shown that foodbank use has increased over the last 7 years, with more than one million three day food parcels being given out in 2014/15. There are various concomitant factors which contribute to the increase use of foodbanks, ranging from problem debt, decreases in local government funding to support vulnerable families, and levels of support made available to those accessing asylum support.
For this submission, we have spoken to practitioners in our children’s centres in Bradford and Dorset to better understand the trends in demand for our services, the key problems facing people who are hungry and seeking to establish if they estimate demand will continue to rise in the year ahead.
They reported that foodbank use has increased by 20% in the last 3 months alone. Previously our services in Dorset processed one to two referrals a month, but this figure has now risen to one a week. More worryingly, there are a number of families who are repeat referrals, which is suggestive of a deep, underlying problem that needs to be addressed at a systemic level.
Our project in Bradford has recently secured funding from Big Lottery, the bid for which highlighted the concerns of practitioners about the increasing numbers of children not achieving a healthy BMI, coupled with a lack of services to signpost children that are being identified as underweight. It also stressed that families lacked basic cooking skills to cook cheap healthy alternatives with families being more reliant upon cheap, unhealthy, and foods high in saturated fat due to financial hardships.
The Children’s Society’s services and links to food banks and assistance schemes
The Children’s Society runs a range of services that support families across the country. One of the main points of contact that we have with low income families is through our network of children’s centres. From these settings we offer a holistic support service to local families, with our offer including crèche services, family literacy courses, outreach programmes for support with energy bills, and signposting services for wider advice with debt and benefits.
As part of our offer, these services also act as official referring agencies for food banks. This means that our practitioners spend time with families to understand and assess their needs, and distribute food vouchers accordingly for use at an allocated local food bank. These include a range of food banks including the Trussell Trust, Fareshare and smaller independent providers including those specific to particularly vulnerable groups.In more extreme cases, our services give small cash sums to local families to alleviate financial pressure on them, be that for a bill payment, rent or buying food.
By working closely with foodbanks and local assistance schemes, our practitioners are able to provide practical, timely and specific support to families that are struggling with the cost of living, and ensure that they are receiving all the support that is available to therm.
Reasons for accessing foodbanks
Our interviews with practitioners showed that the reasons for needing to access foodbanks were similar in different areas of the country, but multifaceted.
Debt
Almost 1.4 million UK families with dependent children are currently in problem debt. In total, families with children are behind with payments of £4.8bn to service providers and creditors (including national and local government). Around 2.4 million dependent children live in these households.
However, this is only part of the problem; an additional 2.9 million families with dependent children have struggled to pay their bills and credit commitments over the previous 12 months, putting them on the edge of falling into problem debt.
Our report The Debt Trap[4]showed that 10% of families had previously taken out credit to pay for food for their children. A third of parents (33%) have borrowed money over the last 12 months to pay for essentials.
Energy debts can also have a deleterious impact on family finances, meaning that they face difficult choices between feeding their children and heating their home. Our report Show Some Warmth[5] showed that 1 in 5 families have cut back on food as a result of energy debt. One parent told us that:
‘It is actually taking the control out of your hands and other than cancelling, which I’ve had to do before to cancel the direct debit because I just could not [afford it]. You know it was between food and missing a month.’
For this reason the government should work with creditors and the free debt advice sector to develop a ‘Breathing Space’ scheme. This would give struggling families an extended period of protection from default charges, mounting interest, collections and enforcement action.
Additionally, we would argue that low income families with children should be moved to the core eligibility group for the Warm Home Discount. There should also be a commitment to fund the scheme for the duration of this Parliament
Free School Meals
The Children’s Society is very concerned that prior to September 2014 more than half of school children living in poverty in England were not getting free school meals (FSM). In England, about a third of school aged children living in poverty were not entitled to receive FSM – around 700,000. Although entitled, a further 500,000 did not take up their meals.[6]
In 2013, the government announced that from autumn 2014 all children in reception, years 1 and 2 would be entitled to a free school meal. This means an extra 160,000 more poor children have the chance to get a free, nutritious meal at school and marks an historic step forward in the fight against child poverty. However, around 500,000 children in poverty remainineligible for a Free School Meal.
We believe that Free School Meals regulations should be amended so that children living on Section 17 support are consistently able to access free school meal, and that the government should ensure all children in poverty, including those in poor working families, receive a Free School Meal
Families accessing section 17 support
All families on Section 17 support or those waiting for the local authority to make a decision on their case being supported by our projects were recorded as needing food banks in order to feed their families. Levels of Section 17 support are very low and vary across the country, with no national guidance or standards. For example, support in the London Borough of Newham has previously been offered at just £50 per week for a family with three children.[7]
We are increasingly seeing ‘gatekeeping’ practices being adopted by Local Authorities for families needing an assessment for Section 17 support. We are concerned that the eligibility criteria being applied by Local Authorities is being set at very high threshold and that social workers are not assessing families. This creates a risk that homeless families and children in need of support will slip through the net without an assessment of need having been conducted and the matter being referred to children’s social care, making it more likely that these families will be in need of support from food banks.
We would recommend that levels of section 17 support are standardised across all groups, and that this is set at a rate that provides the necessary support to families.
Asylum Support
In addition, recent and forthcoming changes to families receiving asylum support may mean asylum seeking families become increasing forced to resort to food banks. In August 2015 Government introduced a flat rate of asylum support for all asylum seekers of £36.95 per week, regardless of age. The effect of this was reducing support specifically for children by £16 per week, a 30% cut.
Furthermore, the Immigration Bill, currently in the House of Commons proposes that entitlement to support should be cut off for asylum seekers with dependent children after their claim is finally refused. This is likely to mean that families previously supported on Section 95 asylum support may now present instead to Local Authorities requiring an assessment for Section 17 support.
We believe that child rates of asylum support should be returned to their previous level before the most recent changes came into place.
Work and Benefits
For many families, welfare support is crucial to prevent them from sinking into, or further into, debt. In our Debt Trap research, over 35% of all families, and 59% of those in problem debt, said that help from benefits and tax credits are ‘very important’ in helping them to pay for essentials like food, clothing and heating
During an interview with our practitioners in Bradford, they identified that many parents living in the Eccleshill Ward that the children’s centre serves are in short term, low paid work, or on zero hour contracts.
The uncertainty that their employment status produces is further compounded by the fact that many of their children do not qualify for Free School meals, which means that they are missing out on the opportunity of one hot, nutritious meal per day.
Other factors such as delays in benefit arrangements, reassessment of people receiving support for medical and health reasons were identified as a contributing factor.
Our practitioners in Dorsetreported benefit sanctions as being a key driver of their referrals to foodbanks. The deadline for updated claims for child tax credits and working tax credits is in July, and if a family submits their information late they often see their benefits cut.
These same families, when taking on more hours at work, also see their housing benefit reduced. Dorset is a high rent area and there are high rents in the private sector, which makes it very hard for families to make ends meet.
The impact of local welfare assistance
We know how important Local Welfare Assistance can be for families in poverty and young people who have nowhere else to turn.The extra £74m funding that was announced by the Government in February of this year will make sure that local authorities can continue to provide crucial relief for families who were on the verge of losing their last line of defence. It will helpfamilies by ensuring that they will now be able to apply to their local council for basic essentials such as food, help with energy bills and basic furniture.
However, the funding is currently decided on a yearly, rolling basis. As such, we believe that the Government should commit to funding for the next 5 years in the Comprehensive Spending Review.
Forecast for the year ahead
Our interviews with practitioners suggested that the current tax credits system doesn’t meet the needs of people that access our services, and too often leads to uncertainty over family incomes which made it difficult for them to properly plan in the long term. In the longer term, levels of food poverty are likely to be effected by how well the Government roll out Universal Credit, and any problems associated with this.
Conclusion
In this response we have identified a number of underlying causes of food bank use including debts, benefits delays and sanctions, and financial pressures as a consequence of problem debt.
Whilst the Government has introduced Free School Meals for all infants, which marks an important step forward in children’s nutrition, food poverty and hunger continue to rise.
The evidence available, both from external sources and from interviews with our own practitioners, suggests that more needs to be done to support families with children in food poverty and presenting as hungry.
Recommendations
- Low income families with children should be moved to the core eligibility group for the Warm Home Discount. There should also be a commitment to fund the scheme for the duration of this Parliament.
- The government should work with creditors and the free debt advice sector to develop a ‘Breathing Space’ scheme. This would give struggling families an extended period of protection from default charges, mounting interest, collections and enforcement action.
- The government should put into place effective arrangements to monitor sanctions and the impacts on claimants and their families.
- Free School Meals regulations should be amended so that children living on Section 17 support are consistently able to access free school meals.
- The government should ensure all children in poverty, including those in poor working families, receive a Free School Meal.
- Government should commit to funding Local Welfare Assistance for the next 5 years in the Comprehensive Spending Review
- Child rates of asylum support should be returned to their previous levels before the changes came into place in August 2015
1
[1]Households Below Average Income (HBAI) - An analysis of the income distribution 1994/95 – 2013/14 - June 2015: 1994-95-to-2013-14.pdf
[2]All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger and Food Poverty in Britain, CPAG, 2014
[3] Data outlining foodbank use over the last 7 years from The Trussell Trust
[4] The Debt Trap, The Children’s Society, 2014
[5] Show Some Warmth, The Children’s Society, 2015
[6] Fair And Square, The Children’s Society, 2012
[7]