Growing up Georgia Sullivan would force down food she didn’t like – in case there was no food at home. Now the 26-year-old and four other young people are calling on the government to end child poverty.
Growing up in poverty has left an indelible trace on Georgia Sullivan.
“I grew up with a fear of food, because I wasn’t used to eating different things,” Georgia, now 26, explains. “I’d be at school eating things I didn’t usually eat, and I remember gagging because I needed to eat the meal because we might not have anything to eat at home. That’s a core memory for me. As I got older, I’d sometimes not eat in the evening so my parents could eat my food.”
Georgia from Nottingham, who grew up in North London and Stevenage adds: “Part of poverty is trying to pretend and act like things that are ordinary for other people aren’t extraordinary for you. There were times growing up I was told not to open the door because of the bailiffs. All the physical things – like having nits for months because we couldn’t afford the treatments – have a real impact. I’m dealing with the lasting consequences every day.”
On Wednesday, Georgia and four other young people who grew up in poverty will hand deliver a letter to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson and Liz Kendall, Work and Pensions Secretary – who co-chair the government’s Child Poverty Taskforce. From their own experiences, and as young ambassadors for Action For Children, these five young people know better than anyone that every day a child spends in poverty is one day too long.
After 14 years of brutal Tory Austerity, Labour inherited staggering levels of child poverty, affecting around 4.5 million children – yet the government’s flagship Child Poverty Strategy has become mired in delays. Spring became summer, and now the strategy has reportedly been delayed until at least the autumn.
And while Wednesday’s Spending Review saw a return from the Chancellor to core Labour values – full of bold plans for transport, the NHS, infrastructure – there was no mention of lifting the two-child benefit cap or other measures that could dramatically shift the dial on child poverty.
As internal rows continue to rage over the two-child limit, and benefit cuts continue down the pipeline, every day more children go hungry and endure health and mental health problems, bullying and indignities that will shape their adult lives. So, Georgia and a group of young people have decided to act to remind Labour of its manifesto commitment to end child poverty.
“Dear Bridget Phillipson and Liz Kendall,” their letter says. “We know how it feels to grow up in poverty. We’ve felt the anxiety, shame, and loneliness that poverty causes. We felt it as children, and as adults we still feel it. We worry that we won’t be able to keep our own children from it.
“Your government has said ‘no child should be left hungry, cold or have their future held back’ by poverty… Hearing these promises, we feel hopeful – but we’re also worried… the two-child limit remains in place, and other benefits are being cut.” They urge the cabinet ministers – “Please make the right choices.”
After the welcome government U-turn on winter fuel, ministers can expect to be deluged by anti-poverty charities over the coming weeks, pushing for action on the two-child benefit cap.
Paul Carberry, CEO of Action for Children, welcomes the additional funding for children’s social care, social housing, and the expansion of free school meals in the Spending Review. But he adds: “If this government is to succeed in its bold ambition to drive down the UK’s shamefully high levels of child poverty, it must go further. The Child Poverty Strategy this autumn must rebuild our inadequate social security system, starting with scrapping the two-child limit and benefit cap.”
Another of the letter’s co-authors, Louise Fitt, 24, from West London, says growing up in poverty has deeply affected her adult life. “Childhood poverty affected me in every sense, from not having enough to eat, to coming home and there being no money on the meter to have a hot shower or watch TV,” she says.
“We didn’t have enough money for school uniforms, and we would wear our shoes until they were worn out. Not eating enough affected my concentration at school. We were underweight, malnourished. I couldn’t go on school trips with my friends. I didn’t know at the time we didn’t really have money, I thought I was being punished.”
At the age of 11, Louise went into care, and later became a young parent. “I now work full-time as a civil servant but it’s still a struggle to make ends meet,” she says. “Many care leavers like me lack the support networks that most people take for granted. But when you come from nothing, it makes you more determined. I started with nothing, but I want to leave knowing I have achieved something and leave a legacy for my daughter.”
Jo Rawle, 26, lives in Bideford, North-Devon. Having lived through childhood poverty, now – as a solo parent living in temporary accommodation – she fears history repeating for her four-year-old son. “My son has autism and complex additional needs,” she says. “That means it’s difficult for me to work until he starts school. Meanwhile, everything has gone up. Sometimes I run out of money to buy a bottle of milk or nappies or fuel, then I have to borrow money from a friend, which I have to pay back later.”
Jo’s benefits income is not enough to support her and her son. “I’ve visited food banks before. I make sure my son comes first. I’ve gone without a meal myself and I wear my clothes until they have holes in them.”
A Government spokesman said: “We are determined to lift more children out of poverty. We have already expanded free school meals, increased the national minimum wage, rolled out breakfast clubs and introduced a fair repayment rate for universal credit deductions. And this week the spending review allocated £1bn in crisis support, including funding to feed hungry children during the holidays. We are determined to go further and that’s why we will publish an ambitious Child Poverty Strategy later this year.”
The Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has told the Mirror in the past about her family being “pushed into poverty” when she was a child and has called child poverty “a scar on our society”. “I know what it is to grow up on free school meals, to grow up in a household where there isn’t enough: when the house is cold, the food runs short, when the choices about which others don’t think twice just aren’t there,” she has said.
In Wednesday’s Spending Review speech, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that “every young person should have the equal chance to succeed”. Young campaigners Georgia, Freya, Aaron, Louise, Holly and 4.5 million children are counting on Labour to make the right decisions.
There is not one moment to waste.