We often associate summer with feelings of happiness, freedom and adventure. But for many children and young people living in poverty across the UK, the reality of summer can be very different.
Children and young people living in poverty are especially vulnerable during the summer holidays. The summer sees the Trussell Trust, the largest network of food banks in the UK, give out more food parcels than at any other time of the year, because children do not have the safety net of schools, teachers and friends to turn to. And despite the Government’s welcome investment in holiday activities and food, there are concerns that some of the 1.74 million children eligible for free school meals this year could still be going hungry. Although an important step forward, the scheme doesn’t cover the whole holiday period, and not all children will attend – for example it may be particularly challenging for ‘young carers’ - children who look after a parent or relative who is unwell or disabled. Others young people at risk include those who have left the care system and cannot afford to put food on the table, let alone go out and enjoy the summer months with friends, and single parents who cannot take time off work and worry for the safety of their children.
Whatever the situation, for some families the realities of poverty during the summer months can be stark.
Young people leaving the care system
The opportunities available to many 17 or 18 year olds – whether that’s choosing a part-time job, learning to drive, or even buying a car – are often not available to young people leaving care. Most important of all, most young people can afford to make mistakes, knowing their parents will support them, but being a care leaver means you are expected to be a fully responsible adult at a very young age.
We spoke to Carin Laird, senior project worker at Barnardo’s Plymouth Care Journeys, who explained why care leavers can so often find themselves living in poverty, and how that affects them.
“For care experienced young people, there’s the threat of eviction, there’s no food on the table, if you’re on a budget of £50 a week and your friends are all going out and you’ve been home for three weeks, then you’ve not seen a single soul.”
“You're buying super noodles and pasta for the week to feed yourself, but the minute you then fall short with bills, you start incurring massive fines.”
The entire system is not set up to support these young people.
It is not just the lack of stability and risk of going hungry, or the lack of opportunities to enjoy being young – Carin explains that being in poverty can have damaging effects on the decisions young people might make out of desperation.
“Poverty is rife amongst care leavers. You just need to look at the prison population, and the percentage that are care leavers, to see that crime is something that figures quite highly – and that becomes a necessity, not a choice, or its lack of mental health support.”
For reference, care leavers are estimated to represent between 24% and 27% of the adult prison population, despite less than 1% of under 18s entering local authority care each year.
The risks of poverty
One young person, Sarah*, talked to us about facing an uncertain, and unsupported, future once she was living on her own.
“Not knowing where you’re going or where you’ll live or pay rent, or how you’ll put food on table [once you leave care] is really scary. There were times I wasn't on universal credit and living on £200 a month.”
“If you move into a flat and you have no income, are living on £200 a month, don’t have parents and you somehow lose the flat, you have no choice but to be on the streets. When you go to council, they say you’ve made yourself ‘intentionally homeless’.”
A lot of young people get into debt because they think it won’t catch up with them, but you shouldn’t think like that.
“Sometimes it’s not that easy, if your TV broke and that was your only entertainment was TV, you will get a loan to try and get a new TV, or your washing machine breaks, same thing.”
How are we helping?
In a recent survey, more than two in three of Barnardo’s frontline staff said they were supporting young people in or at risk of poverty, while almost half of those said families in poverty have experienced difficulties accessing a food bank.
Thanks to the generosity of the British public, through our Coronavirus Crisis Campaign, at the height of the pandemic, we were able to provide over 7000 food packages or vouchers to help struggling families put food on the table, and we also provided home essentials that many of us take for granted, so that young people and families can cook, clean, sleep comfortably and stay warm.
Our services continue to help children and families who can’t access food banks, and provide additional food parcels and supermarket vouchers to meet their needs.
One of our service users, Amanda*, is a single parent to three young children. When she was on maternity leave, she had been struggling to feed her family, but thanks to support from Jenny at Barnardo’s, the family were able to access food from their local food bank which meant Amanda was able to put food on the table.
*Names have been changed and models used