As the Guardian has highlighted this morning, new data shows that 2.1 million children now qualify for free school means. This is one in four children now do so.
The figures have grown dramatically, as this chart from Statista, based on official figures, and excluding the latest figures showing that the total has grown again, demonstrates:
The figure has almost doubled.
This is a real measure of poverty.
Worse, it is a real measure of hardship for children.
It is also a clear indication of division within our society.
And the social dimensions remain as hard to manage as ever: stigma has always been attached to claiming these meals.
It is, therefore, a measure of Tory failure.
We know every public service is now failing, but this is evidence of the very clear costs of that.
Children who need to be fed by their schools are unlikely to learn as well as others because they may also go without breakfasts as well.
And they will be denied the opportunities in life others have: that's what goes with the deliberate promotion of a low-wage, low-security economy for so many in this country.
And have we won anything as a result? Low growth, low productivity, low investment and businesses that are only interested in financial engineering rather than the real sort of engineering that might benefit society are the most we have got as a result of this deliberate exploitation of people in his country as a result of the deliberate increase in poverty by the Tory government.
But what will Labour do about it? As far as I can tell, they will do precisely nothing.
The strongest possible hints have been given by Labour that they will say nothing in their manifesto about ending the two-child benefit cap that is putting one million children into poverty. I think we can take that as indicative of their concern on this issue.
The Tories have been callously indifferent to child poverty—in fact, they've promoted it.
But is Labour any more concerned? Or is balancing its budgets and appeasing those with wealth a much higher priority for it? So far, it would seem so.
And now you know why I will continue to criticise Labour. Nothing less will do until it shows the slightest spark of empathy in its planned actions.
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Is LINO functionally able to show empathy? I’d suggest not.
The book “The Starmer Project” (Oliver Eagleton) shows in the early parts that Starmer has no empathy, is highly ambitious, authoritarian and a liar (& this just from when he was DPP). His children and those of most LINO apparatchiks have never gone hungry – ergo – why would they give a stuff about those that do? LINO opposes changing the 2 child limit – the other side of that coin is: in favour of hungry kids. What an uttely replusive crew LINO are.
My children have never gone hungry, I admit. But it does not stop me caring about those who do. I cannot understand their lack of basic human emotion, care and empathy.
Empathy is for “softies” like Jeremy Corbyn. “Grownups” are tough and do what has to be done.
@ Inga
But who will save us from the effin’ awful Alpha Male/Female mindset ?
Sadly, dire concepts of what leadership is about still prevail.
Starmer and Sunak willywaggling on TV really does reflect our low levels of real politiical engagement, and expectation…..
LINO represent the Upper Classes, who only manage to retain their status by unfairly hindering the development of all and any from the perceived Lower Orders. They can’t face fair competition as they’re well aware they’d be annihilated in any fair competition. Starving children, preventing them from getting the nutrients necessary to properly grow physically as well as intellectually, is one way of stopping that competition from ever growing enough to be a threat. When one considers the ranks of the disadvantaged poor may well include the next generation’s greatest thinkers, scientists and artists, it becomes clear our Upper Classes are, in order to maintain their social status, holding back the advance and development of humanity itself.
I agree: econometrically & stripping away all humanity – disadvantaging people because of their social status @ birth makes zero economic sense since, generally speaking, the mean distribution curve on intelligence is spread regardless of social status. Of course, disadvantaging somebody from birth will have an impact – which is how the uppers keep the upper hand. An aside:
Rolt’s book “George and Robert Stephenson” has a most interesting opening chapter describing the very humble backgrounds of the various men that drove the global rail revolution. I speculated with an economist friend about the impact on the following generation i.e. their off-spring – when sent to public schools (springing up like weeds in the mid-19th century) – which one can characterise then and now as anti-educational institutions.
I have many books by Rolt, but I am not now at all sure I like the man, however aware of green issues he was long before most ever noticed
Thank you, Bill.
I notice a lot of middle class types, not just upper class ones, who do not want fair competition.
Whilst there is no doubt poverty is increasing under this government, we need to understand that FSM eligibility is a terrible proxy for poverty
Since the transitional protections were introduced, children becoming eligible for FSM have been added. But no one has lost eligibility, even if the family circumstances changed
So the numbers receiving FSM continue to rise and will carry on rising even though many children receiving the support no longer need it and aren’t by any definition “in poverty”
You are one of many spouting this sort of utter nonsense
Who sent you?
What is this drivel all about?
Why don’t you care?
What an ignorant comment.
Free School Meal entitlement has always been a very good indicator of child poverty.
I doubt if you have ever stood in a school dinner queue, or ever encountered any students who are entitled to it.
Believe me, it is bleak.
And why are politicians now promising Breakfast Clubs in every school, if children are not going hungry ?
Agreed
Amazingly Andy Jolley (the real Andy Jolley?) is a school food campaigner.
The eligibility criteria are:
Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the following:
Income Support
income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
income-related Employment and Support Allowance
support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
Universal Credit – if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)
I think by ‘transitional provisions’ Andy Jolley may mean that those who have been moved onto Universal Credit are not bound by the £7,400 limit.
If you look at the income level maxima, bearing in mind this musr refer to a household of at least 2 people (adult and 1 child) it is not a good measure of poverty. it is a measure of destitution.
Thank you Cyndy
I agree
Thank you to Richard and others.
With regard to empathy and the sort of people who want to become MPs, let me share an anecdote from 2010.
At the time, I was working for the banking trade body. Some colleagues, mainly Tory, but one Blairite, applied to stand. Our CEO, a Tory former minister, helped. One Tory got into an argument with another colleague. He reckoned that an MP’s job is to debate the great issues of the day, in his mind foreign and security policy. An MP’s job is not that of a social worker or to worry about domestic matters, said Tory thought. The other colleague strongly disagreed.
Said Tory is lifelong Brexiteer. The other colleague voted out because of the neglect by Westminster.
On the day of Obama’s inauguration, said Tory asked me, on my out, if I wasn’t staying to watch. He said history would be kind to W and consider him to be one of the US’s great presidents. I chuckled internally.
Said Tory is a paid up neo con, studied in the US and raves about the place, and worked at Tory HQ, the banking trade body and, oddly, Bank of England.
Inga Marie Horwood is particularly correct. Blue, red and yellow Tories enjoy being tough on the poor, “making difficult decisions”.
As a nation we should be ashamed of the two child limit and not vote fpr any politician who doesnt intend to remove it.
“ All children in primary 1 to 5, at schools run by their local council or funded by the Scottish Government, can get free school lunches during term-time.
Your financial circumstances do not matter.” Scot Gov.
“The UK has seen the greatest rise in child poverty reported anywhere in Europe.4
The rise has been lowest in Scotland although the BBC ran a disingenuous story on
this under the headline ‘Child poverty in Scotland shows little change’.5 The BBC
does not report how well Scotland does in comparison to England nowadays.”
Danny Dorling, Submission to Scottish Parliament on Scottish Child Payment. (See also blog on here 29th May on Prof Dorling’s comments)
Precisely…
Danny Dorling is very positive about the anti-poverty measures the SNP has taken in Scotland. He talks about a third of families in Oxford being in poverty, and the richest parts of England doing worse by some measures than Scotland.
E.g. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/qa-with-danny-dorling-british-society-is-heading-for-levelling-down/
Who would have guessed that one way to stop people descending into destitution was to give them relatively modest amounts of money. Compared to the expense of trying to help people with all of the health, social and other problems they develop after they are destitute, it is not just the moral thing to do but also economic common sense.
They have a very good story to tell if they choose to, but let’s see what good it does them at the ballot box.
‘Professor of Geography’ – If I wanted information on ox-bow lakes and what the capital of Botswana is, I think I might look to Danny Dorling.
On economic matters, I think I might look elsewhere…
Then you have not the slightest idea what geography is about. It’s worth sharing this comment to show just how stupid trolls really are.
It seems that, just before the Euros, trolls have stopped being footballers.
Tigerr Benson appears to be a porn star. Maybe he has a side-line in tractors………..
When it takes a young football star to ‘guilt’ the Tories into budging on the issue of the UK’s growing number of starving children, we should be deeply ashamed as a nation. It took the intervention of TV Chef Jamie Oliver to restore the nutritional value to school meals in the UK, a standard that had significantly deteriorated since I was a child. The government of the day paid more attention to the importance of making sure everyone had access to healthy food with rationing during the war years. Personally, I was not around during rationing, but I’m told that making sure people had enough to eat was a priority despite the shortages. Now Doctors are increasingly treating children for ailments caused by vitamin and nutritional deficiencies that were almost eliminated in the UK. How we have regressed as one of the richest countries on earth!
However, ignoring the desperate need to insulate our cold, damp, drafty homes in the UK, and make energy bills more affordable, also has an impact on how children are adversely impacted in school. One of my previous comments to a blog post on this site included the following points:
“When children go to bed after a junk-food tea or just bread and butter, and then they sleep in cold damp bedrooms, their blood sugar drops overnight. Sugary cereals or toast in the morning provides a very brief recovery before blood sugar will drop off a cliff without proper balanced nutrition.
A simple finger prick test would reveal that many of the poorest children in our state schools are struggling to learn despite low blood sugar. This is caused by a combination of their abysmal diet and living in poorly insulated, unheated UK housing stock. When I was in school we were expected to drink a small bottle of milk at the morning break, which may have prevented me from passing out in school when my blood sugar dropped. I did not recognize the signs back then, but I have no doubt that it exacerbated my dyslexic brain fuzz that got worse with the stress of teachers punishing my errors. The Tory Government has been happy to oversee the dramatic increase in child poverty and I am sure they understand just how it is ‘dumbing down’ their ‘worker drones’ ready for future exploitation.”