Britain's poorest families 'cold and hungry' - report » Housing » 24dash.com

Parents on low incomes face tough choices between heating their homes and putting food on the table, while others are forced to live in unfit housing, a report said today.

Citizens Advice said children living in poverty often had to make do with second-hand school uniforms, making them a target for bullying, while birthday presents, small treats and days out that were taken for granted by other children were completely unaffordable.

The charity published a series of steps that it claims the Government must take if it is to meet its target of halving child poverty by 2010 and irradiating it by 2020.

In its report, This Is Child Poverty, it details the financial, emotional and physical impact of poverty on children in modern Britain.

One parent interviewed for the report said that after paying her bills she had only £100 left to buy food for her three children for a month.

She said she had to go to the market in the evening to pick up food that stallholders had thrown away.

Another mother said her son was picked on at school because she could not afford to buy him a proper school uniform.

Parents also spoke of inadequate housing, with one parent living in a property that had problems with mice and rats, while another said her home was so cold that her children had to sleep in the living room near the coal fire because they could not sleep in their beds, even fully clothed and with extra blankets.

Low-income parents also described the heartbreak of not being able to afford treats or days out for their children, while others said they dreaded Christmas.

One in three children in the UK now lives in poverty and the figures are rising again.

Citizens Advice is calling for dramatic improvements to the benefits and tax credit systems to increase full take-up of vital benefits, while it also wants more support and better financial incentives to ensure that families who move off benefits and back to work are genuinely better off.

It also wants poor parents to receive more help with the hidden costs of free education, such as school meals and uniforms.

Other measures it is calling for include action by the Government to ensure it meets its target of increasing the number of affordable council and housing association homes available and taking steps to bring the rapidly rising cost of essential services such as gas and electricity under control.

David Harker, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said: "All children deserve to grow up in an environment where they can prosper, where the family can afford the essentials that most of us take for granted, with access to a free education, good housing and work that pays.

"The Government has made some progress in lifting children in Britain out of poverty yet one in three children in the UK now lives in poverty, and the figures are rising again.

"We hope this report will give children and families who live in poverty a voice, to tell the Government what more must be done to keep their promise to end child poverty."