Child poverty in Britain is not new. Children going hungry in Britain is not new. A rich and supposedly civilized country such as ours should treat this as an emergency, an outrage and a priority to be addressed.
But instead, child poverty has been rising steadily since 2012. According to the Child Poverty Action Group, by 2023-4, whether or not the £20 uplift in universal credit and keep working tax credit, the number of children living in poverty (after housing costs) will be the highest since records began (4.4 million with the uplift kept, 4.7m without).

Children in Britain are going hungry every day. No government should knowingly allow children of any age to go hungry when we could provide support. Healthy food should be available to vulnerable children from households experiencing low and unpredictable incomes. Including those whose situation has worsened as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

We applaud those who have spoken out. When influential people make their voices heard, they make change possible, people notice and there is now more awareness of the problem of child poverty and hunger. But this should never be necessary. There must be a real and properly funded, deliverable strategy to tackle this scandal.

Unemployment

Unemployment is rising, wages are stagnating and precarious employment is becoming normal.
There are 1.8 million single parents in the UK with a median income of £194.40 per week. Resulting in some of our poorest children relying on school meals in term time and often going hungry in holidays.

Recent figures indicate that eligibility for free school meals had already risen from 1.3 million to 1.44 million in England, based on the January 2020 census. But two in five UK children under the poverty line are not eligible for free school meals.
Hungry children don’t learn well, hungry children don’t progress adequately and hungry children often grow up to suffer avoidable health conditions and inequality.

No parent should be in a position of making spending choices that include whether or not they can afford to feed their child. No parent should have to go without food in order to provide a meal for their children.
This government needs to take action quickly and decisively to address the root causes of food insecurity and child hunger, not just the symptoms.

Questions

• Compare their different perspectives on the treatment of people living in poverty
• Compare the methods the writers use to convey their perspectives
• Support your response with references to both texts