Although there are a number of different ways of defining and measuring poverty, overall the prognosis for the future is bleak. The latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show that there are at least 3.7 million children currently living in poverty in the UK. This equates to more than one million children under the age of five.
The latest survey by the Poverty and Social Exclusion (PSE) project uses a method based on public consensus about what is necessary for minimum living standards. It found that, in 2013, because of a lack of money:
• one in four children did not get an annual holiday away from home
• one in five children lived in a home that was cold and damp
• one in ten children lacked an essential item of clothing such as a warm coat or two pairs of shoes
• one in 20 households could not afford to feed their children adequately.
In 2015, a report from the think-tank the Resolution Foundation estimated that, taking into account tax and benefit measures and the introduction of the National Living Wage, 200,000 children, predominantly from working households, will fall into poverty in 2016. It projects that this figure will continue to rise significantly year on year.
LIVING IN POVERTY: THE EFFECTS
We know that living in poverty has a serious impact on children’s development. International studies show that being poor is associated with increased likelihood of poor behavioural and learning outcomes at age five. Research by the Sutton Trust indicates that, by the age of four, a development gap of more than a year and a half can be seen between the most disadvantaged and the most advantaged children in the UK.
In addition to the effect on educational attainment, children’s health and happiness are also at stake, and there can be long-term adverse consequences into adulthood.
A poor diet and hunger are also a concern for some families, as indicated by a well-documented rise in the use of food banks. The PSE project found that many parents are cutting back on food for themselves to try to ensure that their children have enough. Despite this, in 2012, three per cent of children in the UK went without fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, fish or the vegetarian equivalents, every day. The project points out that more than half a million children in the UK are not being adequately fed. Fuel poverty is also a concern, with some families cutting back or unable to heat their homes adequately.
For families living in poverty and in poor or inadequate housing, there are additional risk factors in terms of overall health and well-being. The Millennium Cohort Study has found that factors such as parental depression, disability, lack of basic skills, financial stress and overcrowding in housing can also hold children back. The clear implication is that the more problems an individual family is experiencing, the more likely it is that there will be negative consequences for the children.
A 2015 report from the Children’s Commissioner highlights the impact that family debt and arrears with bills such as council tax and housing payments can have on family relationships. There is no doubt that poverty, and the stress and uncertainty arising from it, can have a devastating effect on the quality of family life and the overall well-being of young children.
ARE THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF POVERTY INEVITABLE?
Much has been written about resilience and its role in determining outcomes for individual children. In an increasingly challenging environment, we need to know as much as we can about why some people succumb to stresses and others do not.
Resilience as it relates to well-being has been described as ‘satisfactory development under difficult conditions’. This suggests that a capacity to develop resilience as a disposition can help children develop and preserve well-being as individuals even when external circumstances are challenging.
Although individual temperament may be a determining factor, dependable caregivers, secure and loving relationships, a sense of belonging and community, and practical and emotional support can all help to establish vital resilience in individuals.
HOW EARLY YEARS SETTINGS CAN HELP
So, despite all these hindrances, many families do their best to overcome their difficult circumstances and go on to raise happy, resilient and healthy children. Early years settings are well placed to support them in this endeavour.
Although individual settings are limited in the steps that they can take to offset the consequences of poverty in their local area, the provision of clothes swaps, breakfast clubs and a sympathetic environment in which parents can talk through their concerns and anxieties can help a great deal from day to day.
Repeated studies have shown that children in poverty miss out on many of the experiences that most of us would consider essential to the quality of family life. These include celebrations on special occasions, leisure activities and hobbies, holidays away from home, outings and having friends round for tea. Toys, access to books and simply having space to play may also be severely limited.
Most of all it is the quality of the relationships that settings build with families than can determine their effectiveness in helping the children overcome disadvantage. Having their families welcomed and respected is vital to the development of positive self-esteem in children that underpins so much else.
CASE STUDY
Afua lives with her partner and children, a daughter aged three and a son aged eight months, in extremely cramped conditions in a one-bedroomed flat. After a period of unemployment, her partner now works long hours for a security firm. Afua has been suffering with post-natal depression which, she says, has been exacerbated by her housing conditions and difficult financial circumstances after a period on income support.
Afua says that her family situation has meant that her children are ‘losing their childhood’. She makes fresh food a priority and says that this leaves no money to go on outings with the children and buy them toys. They do not celebrate birthdays and they cannot afford to have a television.
When they are given toys, Afua says she pretends to the children that she has bought them as she does not want her son and daughter to feel that their parents cannot provide for them.
She wishes that her children could have more opportunities to play ‘without constraint’. She says she worries constantly about replacing things if they wear out, as well as what the future may bring. Although her husband is now working, she does not expect her financial situation to improve significantly in the near future, especially in the light of proposed benefit changes.
Afua says her situation is isolating and the lack of space and money means they do not have a good quality of family life. Her daughter attends a school nursery where there is little opportunity for parent engagement. When asked how early years services could best support her family, she says providing someone non-judgemental to talk to and the opportunity for ‘quality family time so that parents can bond and play with their children in a safe space’.
MORE INFORMATION
• Changing the Odds in the Early Years (2015) A report from the Children’s Commissioner, www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/Changing%20the%20Odds%20discussion%20paper_1.pdf
• Dickins, M (2014) Young Children’s Well-Being in Times of Austerity in Manning-Morton J (ed) Well-Being in the Early Years. Open University Press
• Lansley, S and Mack, J (2015) Breadline Britain: The Rise of Mass Poverty. Oneworld Publications
• Resolution Foundation – analysis of living standards, www.resolutionfoundation.org
• The Sutton Trust – aims to improve social mobility through education, www.suttontrust.com
• PSE project, www.poverty.ac.uk
• 4Children’s report on families, www.4children.org.uk/News/Detail/4Children-launch-report-into-Britains-Families
POINTS FOR REFLECTION
• What experiences do you expect children to have had by the time they start nursery?
• Are there families in your setting who lack the resources to provide these?
• What can be done in your setting to broaden children’s experiences and support parents to do so?
• What steps can you take to foster and build resilience and well-being for the individual children in your care?
Mary Dickins is an early years consultant and author specialising in inclusion
BRIDGING THE GAP
Find out more about self-regulation and its role in ‘bridging the gap’ in children’s learning at our conference, ‘Self-regulation: the key to effective early learning’, www.selfregulation.co.uk/home
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