Research with children to inform the Government’s Child Poverty Strategy

Children highlighted a number of very tangible impacts of living on a low-income, including:

• Being acutely aware of their family’s day-to-day costs, and that they often had to choose between essentials, such as food and heating. Devastatingly one girl said, “I remember when my sister was just born…you have to keep the house warm. But you can’t keep the house warm…because there was six of us in the house at the time…you’re trying to feed everyone, keep everyone warm and then pay for every expense around the house, so it’s quite a lot.” – Girl, 16.
• While many children recognised that the challenges they were facing were tough, concerningly, they often seemed to accept inadequate situations as normal, or demonstrated worryingly low expectations for what they should be entitled to.

Children showed a striking level of awareness of their family’s access to social security benefits, including the need for benefit rates to be increased, as well as making the system easier to navigate.

• The money their family received was not enough to cover their costs, “I would…change the amount of money people get from Universal Credit…because £920, is that enough for one month?” – Girl, 11.
• That there was a lack of guidance around how to access help their family needs through benefits.
• Children talked about wanting the system for accessing benefits to be more welcoming and supportive.

Last year, 18% of all children in the UK lived in food insecure households, and 7.7% lived in a household that had accessed a food bank in the last 12 months.[i] Children talked about their families struggling to afford food.

• That the increase in costs affected not only the amount, but also the quality and kind of food their families were able to buy.
• How they had gone without healthier food and protein, and were aware of the impact that missing out on key food groups would be having on their health.
• About their family’s reliance on supermarket loyalty schemes and other free food schemes.
• That their families had difficulty in accessing a food bank, with reports of there not being any services in their local area, and the impact that had on their ability to access enough food.

[i] Department for Work and Pensions. (2025). Available at: Households Below Average Income: an analysis of the UK income distribution: FYE 1995 to FYE 2024 – GOV.UK

In the past decade there has been a 90% increase in the number of children eligible for free school meals in England. In 2024/25, 1 in 4 pupils were FSM eligible (25.7%), representing almost 2.2 million pupils.[i] While some children the office spoke to reflected positively on their experience of accessing FSM, many also reported issues with the way the current system operates. This included:

• Reflections on not receiving enough food, either because the portion sizes were too small, or because the money provided wasn’t enough to buy an adequate meal
• Children reflected on the quality of food provided through FSM not being good, “Some of it looks like food you wouldn’t feed to a dog.” – Boy, 15.
• Children were aware of how accessing FSM was perceived by other students – reflecting that it had felt stigmatising.

[i] Department for Education. (2025). Available at: Schools, pupils and their characteristics, Academic year 2024/25 – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK

When asked about what the government could do to help children in poverty, a reflection from children was for there to be better access to breakfast club provision. However, children also talked about issues with the current breakfast club provision:

• Children told the team that, where breakfast clubs did exist, the supply and choice can be limited.
• Children in temporary accommodation talked about not having access to a kitchen so being unable to have breakfast – meaning better breakfast provision would benefit the most vulnerable.

The affordability and availability of public transport was a key issue raised by children the office interviewed. There is regional variation across England in the availability of free transport for children, with no area as generous as London.[i] Children reflected on challenges with transport. This included:

• Reflecting on the difficulty their families have covering their travel costs, and frustrations with increasing prices.
• Discussing travel costs to and from school, with children mentioning that many relied on their school to cover their costs.
• One child contrasted the restrictions she feels in her day-to-day life in one of England’s smaller cities with the freedom she felt using free transport in London, “In London the buses are free [unlike PLACE], so you could practically go anywhere, anytime you like.” – Girl, 13.

[i] Metro (2022). Available at: Free transport UK: Who can travel on public transport at no cost? | News UK | Metro News

The cost of housing was cited as a worry by several children and young people, and one of the things that their families would prioritise spending more on if they had the money. There were a few key issues raised by children, including:

• Not having enough space in their homes, particularly a lack of bedrooms, with multiple family members sharing rooms and having to use living space for sleeping.
• Feeling forced to live in poor-quality housing (because of a lack of money) and being affected by issues such as mould, overcrowding, and poor maintenance.
• Negative interactions with the council and housing associations, in particular a sense that their families were often ignored or their situations not taken seriously.
• Children spoke about their family’s inability to buy suitable furniture for their homes and the effect this had on their day-to-day lives. One girl talked about not having a table in her home, “I would say some people don’t have a table…they can’t afford it, they might have to use the floor and sometimes the floor can be cold because of the heating.” – Girl, 10.

Children also talked about their experiences of living in temporary accommodation. In the past decade there has been a dramatic increase in the use of temporary accommodation for children and families in England. Last year between April and June, there were 159,310 children living in temporary accommodation in England.[i]

• Children spoke about the lack of basic facilities in temporary accommodation, including cooking facilities, “Sometimes when we go to my auntie’s house, she gives us food to take because she cooks out of home…that’s the only time I eat normal food and not take out.” – Boy, 13.
• There were issues around being placed in temporary accommodation far away from previous homes, which impacted children’s education and opportunities to see friends.
• Children also talked about the instability and unpredictability of their housing situations.

[i] Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. (2024). Available at: Tables on homelessness – GOV.UK

It is vital that school can be a place of support for children that have challenges at home as a result of unstable housing or other difficulties stemming from living in a low-income household. Children reflected on the important role of school in their lives, including:

• The value of having trusted adults in school that they can speak to when they are experiencing challenges at home, “There’s one person in like school that I could go and talk to because I feel much safer. Her name is Miss [X] and I trust her so much.” – Girl, 14.
• The need for teachers and school staff to be aware of the challenges that children in low-income households may face, and that this should be consistent across all school staff.
• How schools play a central role in coordinating support, including accessing food to take home, uniform expenses, and accessing travel passes and bursaries. However, the office found that the level of support provided in different schools varied greatly.

There is evidence that low-income families find it difficult to afford the costs of extra-curricular activities, a concern echoed by the children and young people the office spoke to. Young people also told the office about not feeling that they were set up to access the right opportunities. Children told the team:

• The cost of transport, and the expense of the activities themselves, were barriers to their participation and engagement in extra-curricular activities.
• There were also reflections from children which showed that the expense of equipment – both purchasing it and maintaining it – prevented children from participating in activities. One girl explained that she was only able to play football because her school donated equipment, “I didn’t have football boots, the [pastoral team] helped me.” – Girl, 13.
• How not a having a social network of connections can make finding a job harder, “A lot of places expect you to have experience, but you can’t get experience without experience so it’s just like an endless cycle of not being able to find a way in. For me, I got work experience through school… a lot of people are working for their parents’ company, but it’s hard to find places without connections.” – Boy, 16.
• Feeling that there was not sufficient guidance in place to support children to plan their careers.
• Their desire for more opportunities to have fun in their local area, including more clubs, parks and activities.

1. Feeling safe:

A recurring theme in the focus groups conducted by the office, regardless of where children were living, was that children and young people often felt unsafe in their local area due to crime and anti-social behaviour. Key findings included:

• Children recognising the risk of criminal exploitation, and feeling lured into gangs who can offer things that they don’t have access to.
• Knife and gang crime was discussed most often in more urban locations, with children as young as eight speaking in detail about the about the issues in their neighbourhood, “In our area sometimes there’s stuff like robbing and sometimes there’s drunk people and stabbing and yeah. It’s not really a nice because sometimes it can be really dangerous and so, but sometimes it can be a nice merry community.” – Boy, 8.
• In rural areas there was evidence that young people resorted to less serious criminal behaviour due to a lack of youth provision and boredom.
• Children suggested that more street lighting and an increase in Neighbourhood Watch-type initiatives would make them feel safer, “There are random sketchy alleyways…Add some streetlights to [make it feel safer]. There’s nothing there.” – Girl, 12.
• Children described how having a supportive community around them helped them to feel safe in their local area, and encouraged them to access fun local activities.

Children living in lower income households are less likely to access healthy food and the right medical support, as well as experiencing more adversity that can impact their mental and physical health later in life.[i] Children told the team about their concerns regarding their physical health and lack of access to the right health care. These reflections included:

• Children talked about the impact of inadequate housing conditions, such as mould, on their health.
• They discussed their family’s inability to afford nutritious food and the subsequent impact on their health.
• Children also told the office they often struggle to access the right healthcare support.
• They recognised the importance of health, and felt that more could be done to prevent health issues through better engagement with young people.
• Children expressed feeling that there was a two-tier system, with those who can afford to access private mental health support accessing it sooner, “If you do want that immediate help with your mental health, you have to pay for it, which I think is quite a big investment. It’s a lot of money to go and pay for that.” – Girl, 16.

[i] The King’s Fund. (2025). Available at: Ten actions the government can take to improve children’s health | The King’s Fund