‘Benefits street’ is a devastatingly low blow for children living in poverty in the UK

In the autumn budget, something brilliant happened: Rachel Reeves announced an end to the two-child cap. This will lift an estimated 450,000 children out of poverty – giving them beds to sleep in and food to eat, and should have a lasting impact on their education and their futures as a result. It’s a campaign that has been fought for many years from all charities and campaigners pushing for these children to not be left behind. 

Not long after our fists could punch the air in celebration, came a devastatingly low blow – with the decision to end the two-child cap labelled as opening up ‘benefits street’ in Britain by many of the tabloids. 

Lifting the two-child cap will save children, not open up ‘benefits street’ – and this rhetoric pushed by so many newspapers is incredibly damaging. Benefits Street was a documentary that aired in 2014. Anyone who watched it will likely remember White Dee, the mother and heart of the street. The documentary showcased benefits claimants committing crimes and choosing to stay in benefits as it was a lifestyle they were happy with. The reality for the majority of families living in poverty is incredibly different, the thousands of families that we work with are in survival mode. 

Read more:

• Reeves’ budget offers positive steps for those struggling with debts – but there’s still a way to go
• What does the end to the two-child limit on benefits mean for you?
• Reeves’ budget does nothing for families with disabled children like mine. I dread the future

Poverty in the UK is bleak. It is so bleak that 43% of young people living in poverty today are considering dropping out of school to start to work. We know from previous research through Buttle UK that 50% of families in crisis are sleeping on the floor and four in five families are struggling to pay for light power or heat for their houses. Plus, 43% of families cannot afford to pay their rent and mortgage, forcing many to make difficult and dangerous decisions to keep a roof over their heads.

We have long had a negative rhetoric encircling people to claim benefits in the UK labelling them as too lazy to work, free loaders, playing the system – and so on. The actual reality is so much more heartbreaking for the families that we support.

One mother we support explains: “Their father is deceased through suicide, and I had to go back to full-time work. I am the only parent…their self-esteem is destroyed.” This mother works, but she is a single parent. Almost half of children living with a single parent (47%) are now in poverty.

Many families that we work with have experienced abuse which has plunged them into poverty. One mum had to leave her job after her daughter was sexually assaulted. Her daughter requires daily care, leaving the mum unable to leave her home to get back into her career as a teacher in special needs education. Hounded by debt collectors for bills she cannot afford to pay, she is trapped in a poverty cycle that will keep spinning until she is able to receive the right support to enable her to get her life back on track.

The reality is that for children, growing up in poverty can be a life sentence. The impact that poverty can have on children’s education is significant and it can change the course of their futures. This is one of the many reasons that lifting this cap was a humane step forwards for the government. 

One case worker working with a family in crisis shared the impact that she saw on one child’s education, saying: “Her uniform hangs off her body and is stained. Her hair is messy and she itches from nits. Other children avoid her, and she hears whispers that she smells. She is pulled out of class and given a bagel as a teaching assistant notices her stomach is rumbling.

“There is no clear space to do homework at home, not a table or chair to use. She is sitting on the sofa eating a bag of crisps for her tea, and fleas crawl on the cushions.”

This is one of the thousands of children whose life will be forever changed from the lift of this cruel cap. It’s been 20 years and six prime ministers since the last prolonged period of falling poverty. The decision to end this cruel suffering is to be applauded not mocked, it’s time for families to learn how to live, not just survive, and for children to thrive at school and beyond. 

Joseph Howes is CEO of Buttle UK.

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