Last month the government’s official figures reported that 4.2 million children are currently living in poverty. That was an increase of 100,000 from the previous year and equates to 30% of all children in the UK.
The Coronavirus crisis will only have exacerbated this issue, with so many people facing job losses and a fall in their income. It is also likely to be those already struggling to make ends meet that will experience the biggest losses.
Many of these families will be forced to turn to their local authorities or poverty relief organisations for help. So, The Children’s Society and a number of other leading poverty and welfare charities are keen to collect insights from these local professionals and volunteers.
Our group, which includes Turn2Us and The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have created a feedback form to gather evidence which we will then share with the Government and other key decision makers to ensure that policy and practice will truly help people struggling during this global pandemic.
We know that during this crisis the problems being faced amongst councils and support organisations are changing day by day, but we need the insight and intelligence to prove this and make the case for change.
We are asking for as many people as possible to fill in these forms. The information will be collated and analysed by our team. We are then regularly sharing the findings with relevant Government departments to ensure that frontline staff are heard.
We are confident this approach will help equip Government and other agencies to develop effective approaches to dealing with these challenges.
Please take a few minutes to help with this collective effort by sharing any challenges you are facing as a result of Coronavirus. The form can be found here.
Sam Royston is director of policy and research at The Children's Society
