We set up our crisis fund in direct response to frontline staff telling us our services were seeing families with children struggling to pay for their living needs.
The Emergency Fund was funded through generous donations from the pubic and by firms
CASE STUDIES
The report includes some examples of how the Emergency Fund helped families
£500,000 SPENT BEFORE AUGUST
By end of July, @actnforchildren spent approximately £500,000 on emergency essentials for over 10,000 children and young people, living in more than 4,800 families
THE FAMILIES WE HELPED
Almost one in four (37%) were lone parent families @Gingerbread
THE NEEDS OF FAMILIES WE HELPED
Not surprisingly food was a key concern, but so was access to learning materials
HOUSEHOLD FINANCES
The families we helped included
- those who were struggling before the crisis
- those who were struggling with the extra costs of lockdown
- those who experienced drops to their income because of job losses or pay cuts during the crisis
KIM & MOLLY
VIEW OF OUR FRONTLINE
Our frontline workers warn of tough times ahead this winter
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS
We welcomed many of the Govt's actions to help families. We now call on @RishiSunak to use his Autumn Budget to stop plans to cut £20pwk from Universal Credit from April 2021.
We also want long term reforms to address child poverty
**NEW**
Child Poverty statistics published for 2019-20
As always, look at the trend too 1. PAST - child poverty has risen sharply since 2012 2. FUTURE - @resfoundation projected before Budget that child poverty would rise after the pandemic
Really disappointed to hear a @BBCr4today programme interviewer talk about 'illegal asylum seekers'. No such thing.
On such a big issue, how is it possible to get basic terms wrong? @omrgriffiths
#r4today was getting this wrong 20 years ago when I used to work for a refugee charity - and when we had Straw and Blunkett thinking the answer to the asylum system was tough-talking not smart-acting
Years ago. The now defunct Press Complaints Commission issued editorial guidelines on the correct terms to use on asylum & immigration- overseen by @StigAbell
On #Marr yesterday, the Labour leader repeated his call for the plans to cut Universal Credit by £20 pw to be scrapped - something @actnforchildren called for after examining the evidence from our Coronavirus crisis grants scheme actionforchildren.org.uk/our-work-and-i…
THREAD: Is the Govt changing its cherrypicking strategy on child poverty claims?
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
1. What PM wrongly claimed on child poverty in 2019, earning @StatsRegulation rebuke
2. What PM claimed on child poverty at PMQs on 18 Nov 20
In the first statement, the PM used 2010 as a baseline. At the time, relative poverty was rising and absolute poverty was historically weak - we could not see where the 400,000 claim had come from.
Today, @EndChildPoverty coalition hosted by @CPAGUK & chaired by @AnnaFeuchtwang published estimates of child poverty broken down by LA, constituency and ward levels.
LETTER in the Times, in response to @jennirsl column on early intervention
Would be dangerously irresponsible to have an NHS with only A&E depts but no primary care or public health – yet this kind of short-sightedness is what we’re facing in children’s services.