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Struggling parents meet with Ministers on child poverty

Posted on 27 November 2024

Twelve parents on low incomes from the Changing Realities project have met with ministers at 10 Downing Street to say what they need from the government’s child poverty strategy.

Representatives from Changing Realities ahead of their meeting at No 10 Downing Street. Image credit: Alex Holland, University of York

A collaborative online project between parents and carers, academics at the Universities of York and Salford and Child Poverty Action Group, Changing Realities documents the experiences of low-income families and pushes for change. 

On Wednesday 27 November 2024, the parents met with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and representatives from the Department for Work and Pensions. The parents welcomed the invitation to contribute to the consultation by the government’s Child Poverty Taskforce and say with child poverty at record levels, wide-ranging reforms must come soon. 

Lasting change

The Taskforce is due to publish its child poverty-reduction strategy in Spring.

Jo Barker-Marsh, a parent who took part in the meeting, said: “Lived experience input into policy feels vital to effect lasting change. We were delighted to travel to Downing Street and meet to discuss what we know, as the families living in poverty, will make the biggest difference to our lives.”

Extraordinary moment

Professor Ruth Patrick, who leads Changing Realities and is from the School for Business and Society at the University of York chaired the meeting. She said: “Millions of parents across the UK struggle day in, day out, to bring up children in poverty. Today, 12 of those parents visited 10 Downing Street to set out why action to address child poverty has never been more urgently needed.

“These are ordinary parents, with ordinary hopes and dreams, but this was an extraordinary moment and one that holds the hope of change. The Government can and must listen, and then act – and act urgently - to bring down historically high rates of child poverty and invest in social security as a force for good.”

Range of changes

The parents, who come from all four nations, made the case for a range of changes including:

• Renewed investment in social security support for families in an out of work, including higher rates of universal credit and child benefit
• A change in the rhetoric used to talk about 'welfare' - recognising that a social security system should be spoken about as a force for good
• Abolition of the benefit cap and two-child limit
• Expand eligibility and increase value of carer’s allowance

More information on Changing realities can be found here. Further information on the government’s Child Poverty Taskforce is here. 

 

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