Child poverty rising in key worker families – study

The analysis was carried out by Landman Economics on behalf of the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

It shows that 41 per cent of children in key worker households in the North East are living in poverty (41 per cent), followed by the North East and London (both 29 per cent).

The TUC says the extra support announced by the Treasury this year to help families with energy bills will be offset by cuts to real-terms pay in the public sector and other rising living costs, and warns that child poverty rates among key worker households are likely to get worse.

Real-terms pay cuts for key workers in the public sector will have a devastating impact on frontline workers, says the union body.

It says that maternity care assistants’ real pay will be down by £600 this year  and nurses’ real pay will be down by £1,100 this year. 

The research uses the government definition for key workers – 10.6 million of those employed (33 per cent of the total workforce) are in key worker occupations and industries.

The percentage of children in poverty in key worker families is lowest in Wales (8.9 per cent) and Scotland (8.3 per cent).

Overall, the figures show that 19 per cent of children in key worker families are living in poverty - 989,237.

TUC regional secretary James Mckenna said, ‘Our amazing key workers got us through the pandemic. The very least they deserve is to be able to provide for their families.

‘But the government is locking too many key worker households into poverty.

‘Ministers’ heartless decision to hold down pay will cause widespread hardship in the region.

‘After the longest wage squeeze in 200 years we urgently need to get more money in the pockets of working families.

‘This will help people get through this cost of living crisis and inject much-needed demand into our economy.’

The TUC is calling on the government to guarantee decent living standards by:

• Raising the national minimum wage immediately. 
• Giving all key workers a fair pay rise that meets the cost of living. 
• Funding the public sector so that all outsourced workers are paid at least the real Living Wage and get parity with directly employed staff. 
• Boosting universal credit to 80 per cent of the real Living Wage. 
• Significantly increasing benefit payments to children and removing the two-child limit within social security. 

Dr Paul Gosling, president of school leaders’ union NAHT and primary headteacher in Devon, said, ‘At no point in my thirty-year career of working in schools have I seen the number of families being pushed into poverty as they currently are.

‘This national cost of living crisis is crippling so many hard-working people and the government needs to take some serious and immediate action to support people. School leaders know that the effects of poverty can hugely disadvantage children’s life chances, and they are angry and frustrated that more is not being done to support our communities.’

Paul Whiteman, NAHT’s general secretary, said, ‘Our members have described the rise in poverty in their schools’ communities over the past year as “shocking and stark”. It is clear that the combined pressures of Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis have driven more families and children into poverty. Children who are hungry are not ready to learn.

‘Teachers and school leaders are increasingly having to tackle the impact of poverty before they can even start teaching.'

A government spokesperson said, ‘We recognise people are struggling with rising prices which is why we are protecting millions of the most vulnerable families with at least £1,200 of direct payments, starting with the £326 cost of living payment, which has already been issued to more than seven million low income households.'