Million children facing poverty this Christmas
A MILLION children could face Christmas in a cold home with no winter coat or fresh food.
Three pupils in every primary school class will be deprived of their most basic needs over the festive season, a study found.
Experts said child poverty is “the worst they can remember” after government data revealed at least 980,000 children aged under 10 now live in “materiallydeprived, low-income families”.
After its research Action For Children called on MPs to take drastic steps to help the UK’s most vulnerable children.
Hard-up parents are spending £2 per day per child, on average, on meals. They struggle to afford nutritious fresh vegetables, fruit and healthy protein such as fish or meat so vital for development.
For the most deprived children, free school meals are often their main source to nutrition. This leaves many families struggling to cope over Christmas.
It has also been revealed that a child is made homeless every eight minutes, with at least 135,000 spending Christmas Day in temporary accommodation.
Universal Credit claimants receive a £10 Christmas bonus in the first week of December, but the extra payment is unlikely to make much difference, with the extra expense of gifts as well as heating bills. The British Nutrition Foundation said: “It’s deeply concerning that children may be going without enough food this Christmas. A healthy diet in childhood can lay the foundations for good health in later life and children are particularger larly vulnerable to the effects of poor nutrition.Their bodies need energy and essential nutrients for growth and development.”
Julie Bentley, Action For Children’s chief executive, said: “No parent should have to face the prospect of their youngster sitting in the cold without a plate of food to eat, or skip dinner so their child has a meal.
“Politicians are telling us austerity has ended but our frontline services tell us child poverty is the worst they can remember.
“The next government must deliver ambitious policies to end child poverty and bring in a National Childhood Strategy to give all our children a safe and happy childhood.”
The charity said to support a child this Christmas text CHILD to 70607 to donate £10.
BACK treading the boards in Bromley as Widow Twankey, pantomime favourite Christopher Biggins, 70, pictured, mischievously recalls in The Spectator: “I was in Brighton co-starring with Irene Handl. She was mad as a hatter. She had a habit of barging on stage carrying her dog when it wasn’t her scene. She’d hand me the dog and then walk off. We called these her mirage moments. Now you see her, now you don’t.”
MEANWHILE, gossipy Biggins also insists on taking credit for showbiz pal Dame Joan Collins, 86, making her own lucrative panto debut in recent years.
Discussing Joan’s popular turn as Queen Rat in Birmingham, he now cheekily suggests: “I think her ears pricked up when I told her how much people could earn.”