Portsmouth MP Stephen Morgan vows to continue in the fight against child poverty in Portsmouth and across the UK amid distressing new findings.
A National Education Union (NEU) snapshot poll of 1,026 teachers in England has revealed a harrowing picture of the increase in poverty seen in our schools and the daily impact it is having on children and young people.
- 46% of teachers confirm that holiday hunger has got worse compared to three years ago.
- 63% of respondents say that more families are unable to afford adequate winter clothes or shoes compared to three years ago.
- 46% of teachers believe that there are more housing issues (poor quality, insecure, overcrowded or temporary accommodation) compared to three years ago.
- 53% of respondents believe that children and young people will go hungry over Christmas.
- 40% of respondents say schools are having to provide extra items for children and young people and their families because of increased poverty.
Teachers readily gave distressing examples from their school about the effect living in poverty was having on the children and young people they teach. Teachers’ observed that up to a third of pupils say they are sleeping in their uniforms as they don’t have pyjamas. They reported children attending school without winter coats even in the coldest weather, or with shoes held together by tape.
Teachers reported buying pupils coats on a scale never seen before, holes in shoes, trousers far too short, holes in clothes and pupils still wearing sandals on very cold days. One student was reported to have worn his trousers backwards as he didn’t want anyone to know he had holes in the knees.
Further, the poll revealed that the impact of living in poverty on children and young people’s education is stark. Teachers observed a wide range of consequences including absence from school (83%), behavioural issues (85%), concentration (81%), health (59%) and lateness to school (79%).
Stephen Morgan MP said:
“These are shameful findings that have no place in a modern society.
A third of children in Portsmouth South are living in poverty. Housing problems such as overcrowding, the cost of living and high rents are all real issues that are contributing to this problem, we are seeing families with working parents using foodbanks as they can’t afford to buy food.
I have raised serious concerns over school cuts and the number of children using food banks in the city with Ministers.
I will continue to work with others to bring an end to child poverty and ensure every young person in our city has the best possible chance to succeed”.
Commenting on the poll, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“This is a Dickensian picture of the poverty that far too many children and their families are having to endure. The Government is out of touch with the distressing new reality of children’s daily lives: with what it means to live without enough money for basics, such as food, shoes and adequate clothing.
The Government has failed to recognise the human cost of its cuts to schools and other children’s services and to the social security system, and its failure to address the in-work poverty faced by 1 in 5 workers.
The UN Envoy Philip Alston concluded in his recent report that the Government is in a state of denial about the levels of poverty in the UK.
The Government must stop hiding from the facts. Children can’t escape the poverty trap without an urgent change to national policies.”
