Sadly, as the cost-of-living crisis continues, we have become accustomed to hearing about the stark choices families have to make.
The phrase ‘heat or eat’ has been part of our lexicon for years now and when the fundamental need for survival trumps everything else, it’s no surprise that other basic needs go unmet.
At Barnardo’s we know that families are having to make gut-wrenching choices, prioritising feeding their children and heating their homes over buying other essential items like beds and bedding.
Millions across the UK are teetering on the edge of destitution, with the United Nations warning that the UK is in violation of international law over poverty levels, and one of the few things preventing them from plummeting into the abyss is crisis support from their local council.
But these families are set to lose what little support they have when the Government ends its Household Support Fund in March.
The fund has been propping up local councils’ crisis support for residents who need urgent help with things like bills, beds for children or food vouchers.
But local authorities are heading for a cliff edge after the chancellor missed the opportunity to commit to funding the scheme in the Autumn Statement this week.
News last week that UK inflation fell to 4.6%, although welcome, doesn’t mean the cost-of-living crisis is over.
Although the rate at which costs are rising is starting to slow, prices for families struggling remain high and many have taken on debt by falling into arrears or becoming overdrawn.
The Government’s own figures show that payments under the fund have been awarded 26 million times since it began two years ago – that’s almost £800 million paid to households with children to support with the cost of living.
The central fund, set up to aid families struck by the crisis, currently pays for 45% of crisis payments made by local authorities to families on the brink.
Without it, councils will have to either find the cash from elsewhere in their already stretched budgets or reduce the number or value of payments, letting families fall into destitution.
Last month, Barnardo’s teamed up with partners, including the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Trussell Trust, to urge the chancellor to secure the future of the Household Support Fund in the Autumn Statement.
Its omission is a huge disappointment.
It’s a missed opportunity to provide certainty to local authorities planning the future of local crisis support and means families already hanging by a thread will no longer have a safety net to catch them if they fall.
Helping families, children and young people in poverty has been at the heart of Barnardo’s work for more than 150 years and our frontline colleagues are seeing as great a need as ever in our 800 services across the UK.
Recently Barnardo’s has had to pivot to provide crisis support to families accessing our services for other reasons but who are also struggling to afford essential items.
Our recent research into bed poverty in the UK showed that one in 20 children sleep on the floor and one in 10 has to share a bed because they don’t have their own for financial reasons.
Mum-of-three Danielle’s oldest two children – boys aged six and three - were sleeping on mattresses on the floor after their beds rotted away because of black mould in their rented home.
Only able to afford a £50 a month food budget for their family of five, Danielle and her partner Wayne simply didn’t have the money to buy new beds for the boys.
Danielle hadn’t known where to turn but was referred to Barnardo’s after a health visitor raised concerns about the family’s hardship during a routine home check-up for their new baby.
In the following two months we were able to order new beds for Danielle’s older boys, as well as provide baby essentials and other support.
It's families like Danielle’s that the Household Support Fund can pull back from the brink.
It provides a lifeline for families facing hardship, hunger, and unexpected costs and enables councils to provide vital crisis support suited to the needs of their communities.
Growing up in poverty means that as well as being at risk of going cold or hungry, children miss out on opportunities, and their physical and mental health suffers, affecting them long into adulthood.
Time is now running out for local authorities who urgently need certainty so they can plan crisis funding for their residents in need.
As well as extending the scheme beyond this coming March, the chancellor should commit to a three-year funding programme, increased by 16%, and require all local authorities to provide a minimum level of crisis support, ensuring every child in every family can get the help they need, regardless of where they live.
At Conservative Party Conference just a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister promised ‘long term decisions for a brighter future’ and that’s exactly what local councils all over England need now, otherwise we risk leaving a gaping hole in support which neither local government nor the voluntary sector will be able to fill.
Lynn Perry MBE is chief executive, Barnardo’s
