Home-Start welcomes the action taken by ministers from Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland in writing to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Chloe Smith, to call for greater support for families in the face of the cost-of-living crisis.

The cost-of-living crisis is a disaster for millions of families with young children. After years of pressure, many families are already low on capacity to respond – this will push so many families over the edge. Across the UK Home-Starts are providing compassionate, non-judgemental support to families where financial stress is making parenting harder.

Children who have lived in persistent poverty during their first seven years have cognitive development scores on average 20 per cent below those of children who have never experienced poverty and children growing up in poverty are more likely to experience physical health conditions like asthma, malnutrition and have more emergency attendances at hospitals.

In a joint letter the Scottish Minister for Social Security and Local Government, Ben Macpherson, Welsh Minister for Social Justice, Jane Hutt, and Northern Ireland Communities Minister, Deirdre Hargey, voiced grave concern over the financial hardship being endured by the most vulnerable and called for swift action to be taken.

In the letter the ministers called for an immediate emergency uplift of £25 to Universal Credit and all legacy benefits; abolition of the benefit cap and the two-child limit; and a benefit take-up campaign.

Last week chief executive of Home-Start UK, Peter Grigg, wrote to Kelly Tolhurst, UK Minister of State for Schools and Childhood, asking the government to help families in three key ways:

• That universal credit, child benefit and other welfare support relied on by families will increase by at least the level of inflation to protect families from rising costs.
• Increasing support through Universal Credit and Healthy Start Vouchers could provide an extra £1,200 a year for parents of children under 1 to spend on giving their child the very best start in life.
• Support for charities working with families and children to ensure that they can continue delivering services to families throughout this period.

The cost-of-living crisis is a disaster for millions of families with young children. After years of pressure, many families are already low on capacity to respond – this will push so many families over the edge. The poorest families need urgent financial and emotional support today because childhood can’t wait for the economy to recover.

 

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