1/10 New Campaign Klaxon!

Today, @savechildrenuk are calling for a #WinterPlanForChildren, building on conversations we’ve been having with parents about their experiences over the last couple of months of the pandemic: https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/content/dam/gb/reports/winterplanforchildren.pdf

2/10 It’s a tough time for us all (I just heard someone say they feel weary, which I think we can all relate to!), & the situation for families on low incomes is stark: of the parents we spoke to, 60% have gone into debt, and nearly 38% have had to rely on help from charities

3/10 But it’s the stories we’ve heard from people that have really got to me. People going round the supermarket with a calculator trying to get by on £60 a month for food, to feed them and their little ones (‘I eat a lot of 29p pasta’ is one of the things we’ve been told)

4/10 And it’s the big costs that push people over the edge: school uniforms for the new school year, a winter coat. Children rightly need new things as they grow: as one mum said, ‘there’s always something else you need’

5/10 All of this is incredibly stressful for parents, but the number one concern is for their children. They spoke of the shame they feel, the worry if they notice something’s up, and concern that children will fall behind because they can’t afford laptops. Heartbreaking.

6/10 As we look ahead to a long hard winter, and sadly a rise in unemployment, less than half felt the government was doing enough to support them; a figure that was taken AFTER the government announced it’s job support scheme

7/10 Supporting parents to find work or re-train is welcome, but the jobs need to be there in the first place, and people need to have enough to live on in the scary in between time. One parent on #UniversalCredit for the first time said: ‘people shouldn’t have to live like this’

8/10 I think it’s time for a reality check, and for policy choices to be made which reflect the situation for parents and children right now. In this time, in this context, the Chancellor *must not* go ahead with plans to take away £1000 from low income households next April

9/10 But we need to go further. We’ve had a winter plan for jobs, but now we need a #WinterPlanForChildren which acknowledges the pressure families are facing *right now*, and has our children’s best interests at heart

10/10 If we want change, we’ve got to fight for it. We need MPs to start putting pressure on the Chancellor, so please write a message to your MP via the link below, and your message will rock up on a postcard at their office. Much harder to ignore!

https://bit.ly/3nvduUw