Coronavirus has turned the lives of families with children upside down. Many parents have lost jobs or been furloughed and many schools and childcare facilities have largely been closed, leaving those still in work facing the impossible task of balancing work with childcare and home schooling. These challenges are particularly acute for low-income families. This new report from CPAG and the Church of England offers an important insight into the day-to-day struggles that families have been dealing with, as well as their strength and resilience in managing such an array of challenges on a limited income.
To understand the impact of child poverty on the lives of children and families in England better, CPAG, the Child Welfare Inequalities Project (CWIP) and the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) conducted a survey of social workers between January and March 2020 to ask them about the experiences of the families they work with.
To understand how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted children’s experience of learning, we conducted some research through surveys and interviews. We gathered the experiences of 3,600 parents and carers, along with 1,300 children and young people, with an emphasis on the experiences of low-income households. We found that the cost burdens of school closures have fallen most heavily on families already living on a low income.
CPAG and the Church of England has produced a new report on the impact of the two-child limit after three years. Since 6 April 2017, families having a third or subsequent child are no longer entitled to additional support through child tax credit and universal credit.
This report has been developed by the A Different Take London panel. We are a group of children, young people and parents with experience of living on a low income, and people from Child Poverty Action Group and the University of Leeds. Between January–June 2019 we have been discussing our own experiences and priorities and talking to the people in our communities, to develop our own agenda around the most important issues affecting the lives of people in poverty and what we think should be done about them.
Tower Hamlets has the highest rate of child poverty in the UK: 57 per cent, after housing costs are taken into account. In 2017, Tower Hamlets became one of the first boroughs in London to become a universal credit ‘full service’ area. The London Borough of Tower Hamlets commissioned CPAG to research the experiences of families with children in receipt of universal credit.
Our annual Cost of a Child report this year finds that the overall cost of a child up to age 18 (including rent and childcare) is £185,000 for lone parents (up 19% since 2012) and £151,000 for couples (up 5.5% since 2012). The gap between lone parents’ actual income and what they need to meet family needs has grown sharply: lone parents working full time for the so-called national living wage ('NLW') are 21% (£80 a week) short of what they need – after paying for rent, childcare and council tax - a gap that has more than doubled from 10% since 2012.
CPAG in Scotland responded to the Scottish Government's consultation on improving temporary accommodation standards to highlight the need to incorporate the impact of social security changes into guidance on the standards.
Financial support to low income families to pay for childcare through working tax credits is being replaced by the childcare element of universal credit. This Early Warning System report examines the impact of this change on parents and childcare providers.