Teachers and GPs are ‘staggering’ under extra demands caused by poverty in Great Britain
This is the headline of today’s Guardian which published a Joseph Rowntree Foundation report stating teachers and GPs in England, Scotland and Wales are informally acting as emergency food providers, welfare advisers, housing officers and social workers alongside their day jobs, as they devote more and more time and resources to support struggling parents and children.
- Primary school staff estimated 48% of their pupils, and primary care staff 57% of their patients, had experienced hardship at some point since the start of the school year or over the past 12 months.
- A third of schools, and nearly half of GP surgeries, had set up food banks to provide emergency food supplies to hungry pupils and families. Staff in schools in deprived areas estimated 44% of pupils had come to school hungry over the past year.
The article also highlights that the Tory manifesto plans to cut £12 bn from benefit spending which many of the families of these children rely on.
Many people will vote for the Tories on July 4th - seeking to achieve what? Yet more child poverty?
There is definitely a lot of useless parenting out there. I had 2 pupils arrive at school at 10.30am today, why? Mum couldn’t be bothered to get up!
Disgraceful. Is there a case for such children being taken into care? Surely SS are involved?
I'm all for support. How do we ensure the support is actually used on childre though. When the £25was introduced in Scogland I over heard on a bus a conversation between two young females praising the payment as it would allow one to reinstate some tv channels and the other was excited as awaiting the upgrade to be
her iphone. Improving children's health and wellbeing, can think of other ways that could help
Hard to believe there is child poverty in this country. I certainly saw it on a trip to Nepal and that is real poverty.
Germanshepherdsmum
*jenpax*, how can you possibly come to that conclusion from karmalady’s post? Her meaning could not be clearer.
Yes she made a disparaging comment about relying on the state so yes I think her meaning was clear!
Her meaning was clear to me but obviously not to you.
We do clearly have a situation where some parents need engagement with services when their children are young - grumbling isn't enough tho, it won't change anything.
The Labour Party policy isnt to directly raise cash benefits but offer
labour.org.uk/updates/stories/labours-plan-for-childcare-and-early-education/
- and a drive to help parents get back to work. I wish Sure Start could be funded as well some time in the future as that increases engagement with the parents.
Germanshepherdsmum
Disgraceful. Is there a case for such children being taken into care? Surely SS are involved?
You are funny! SS, particularly Child Protection team, are so overworked, even if this was a regular thing and the school reported it then it’ll join a very very long list and be low priority.
Back in the day, not so long ago, there would have been Family Workers/Family solutions teams in every local authority, who would work with both the parents and the school, there would be regular Team around the Child meetings, health visitors and school welfare officers would be involved. Severe cuts in services has been out paid to all that.
I find it so hard to understand how people can go around judging others in this undiscriminating way. It is truly very sad.
KG1241
There is definitely a lot of useless parenting out there. I had 2 pupils arrive at school at 10.30am today, why? Mum couldn’t be bothered to get up!
So I’m guessing you know this mother well and this is what she or the children told you? She’s not so useless she didn’t bring them in at all?
How well do you know her background and circumstances and her children?
mrsgreenfingers56
Hard to believe there is child poverty in this country. I certainly saw it on a trip to Nepal and that is real poverty.
There are children going to bed with rumbling tummies (though more Mum’s than children) Children wearing shoes which are too tight for them, living on temp accommodation. This isn’t Nepal and poverty is relative.
ninamoore
To for the uninformed; the number of people working who have to claim benefits has risen. This is because many people cannot survive on the minimum wage nor can they manage when their job has zero hour contracts. This is before they have to cope with rising rents.
I really think that people read less of the Daily Mail and listened less to politicians who blame everybody else.
Kindly do some research before making judgemental comments as it just show your ignorance.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
KG1241
There is definitely a lot of useless parenting out there. I had 2 pupils arrive at school at 10.30am today, why? Mum couldn’t be bothered to get up!
Are you a teacher?
Have a little look at what happened to the wonderful Surestart nurseries under this government.
albertina
Have a little look at what happened to the wonderful Surestart nurseries under this government.
2,204 still in existence in 2023.
1,416 have closed.
Hope that answers your question.
It's not just about numbers of centres that counts, its what they can offer that's the issue
"Analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown how the Sure Start programme made a significant difference to the educational outcomes of some of the most disadvantaged children, as well as improving health outcomes and boosting parental employment.
However, between 2010 and 2022 funding for Sure Start decreased by over two-thirds
2024 report
www.n8research.org.uk/research-focus/child-of-the-north/2024-campaign/schools-hubs/
Luckygirl3
I find it so hard to understand how people can go around judging others in this undiscriminating way. It is truly very sad.
I am with you Luckygirl but it always happens on threads like this.
Anecdotes are wheeled out by those who have no intimate knowledge of what many people are struggling with…..have they walked a mile in their shoes? - no.
The thread therefore morphs into an article the Daily Mail would be proud of, and the stuff that right wing political parties relish.
As has said before, it is attempting to undermine the facts in the original report by finding individual examples of the "undeserving poor" in the light of forthcoming elections.
The Labour Party will help the child poverty by taxing the working people alot higher and therefore casting half of them into poverty anyway. The people can't win here we just have to do out best with what we get lumbered with. The benefits being given today are not meagre if used correctly they can feed a family of four. Not a lot to spare but they can. I know a single mother who manages, no luxuries but her two children are fed breakfast and tea with free school dinners at lunchtime.
The whole situation is not a small issue that can be solved. It's a societal, cultural, governing issue that is bound to collapse on itself. Public servants can't go into a family home and tell a tired mother to set her alarm clock and feed her children every morning. This is a ridiculous scenario. The government can't dole out free groceries to the working poor. This is larger than a UK issue. The entire world is transitioning so quickly and in unpredictable ways. Mass migration, greed and corruption will change the concepts of food, housing and resources. As poverty continues to increase in wealthy nations, instability will increase everywhere. What we are seeing might just be the new normal.
MaggsMcG
The Labour Party will help the child poverty by taxing the working people alot higher and therefore casting half of them into poverty anyway. The people can't win here we just have to do out best with what we get lumbered with. The benefits being given today are not meagre if used correctly they can feed a family of four. Not a lot to spare but they can. I know a single mother who manages, no luxuries but her two children are fed breakfast and tea with free school dinners at lunchtime.
Has the Labour Party said it will tax all working people, especially those who don't earn much, more?
The Labour Party do not need to tax all working people. All they need to do is to keep the corrupt and regressive policy whereby personal allowances are not raised in line with inflation. They give it a fancy name. Fiscal drag. Therefore as pay and pensions rise more and more people at the bottom will get dragged into paying tax or more tax. If the policy is not changed older people on the basic state pension (with no extra source of income) will end up paying tax.
The obvious solution is for the government to provide more school meals, so that the children don’t go hungry.
Instead of providing one free school dinner at lunchtime, provide free meal at breakfast and tea as well.
In my country of origin, poorer students in secondary schools received 3 free school meals per day and the government covers the cost of uniforms, textbooks and subsidises transport fees.
Yes, that would resolve the hunger issue. Offer three meals a day to all students - as a standard - regardless of income.
biglouis
The Labour Party do not need to tax all working people. All they need to do is to keep the corrupt and regressive policy whereby personal allowances are not raised in line with inflation. They give it a fancy name. Fiscal drag. Therefore as pay and pensions rise more and more people at the bottom will get dragged into paying tax or more tax. If the policy is not changed older people on the basic state pension (with no extra source of income) will end up paying tax.
I agree!
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