CHILD POVERTY CAMPAIGNERS CALL ON CORBYN TO MAKE CHILD POVERTY TOP PRIORITY

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CHILD POVERTY CAMPAIGNERS CALL ON CORBYN TO MAKE CHILD POVERTY TOP PRIORITY

For immediate release

The End Child Poverty coalition is calling on the Labour Party to make tackling child poverty a key pillar of its vision for a more equal society.

Sam Royston, Chair of End Child Poverty said ‘in his speech to conference this year, Jeremy Corbyn highlighted that a staggering 4m children live in poverty in Britain and that 120,000 children have no home. It is time that the major political parties put children at the heart of their social policies – not simply to ensure that no child in the UK goes to bed hungry or cold – but to protect them from the brutal impact poverty will have on their future.’

It is estimated that child poverty costs society £29bn a year. And with child poverty projected to increase to 5m by 2020, End Child Poverty is calling for politicians to recognise the scale of the problem.

‘We look forward to hearing more detail from the Labour Party as to how they intend to end child poverty,’ said Judith Cavanagh, campaign coordinator for End Child Poverty, ‘While we welcome Jeremy Corbyn’s commitment to end the cuts to social security, we are calling for an end to the current freeze on children’s benefits; that housing support is kept in line with private rents; and that action is taken to ensure poorer families do not have to pay higher prices for basic goods and services.’

Notes to editors:

• The End Child Poverty coalition (www.endchildpoverty.org.uk) is made up of around 100 organisations from civic society including children’s charities, child welfare organisations, social justice groups, faith groups, trade unions and others, united in our vision of a UK free of child poverty. These include Child Poverty Action Group, The Children’s Society, Barnardo’s, Gingerbread, Oxfam, Action for Children, TUC, Save the Children, and the National Children’s Bureau.
• You can get in touch with the coalition by emailing judith@endchildpoverty.org.uk or on 07918 567577.
• The “Feeling the Pinch” report can be found at (www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/feeling-the-pinch/
• The £29bn a year figure comes from D Hirsch, Estimating the costs of child poverty. Child Poverty Action Group. 2013
• Child poverty projections come from https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/comms/R127.pdf

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