VIEW
Independent Social Affairs magazine for community/voluntary sector www.viewdigital.org Issue 31, 2015
SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES
INSIDE:
Contributors include: Jane Craven Paddy Hillyard Lynn McDonald Lynda Wilson Mike Tomlinson Marion Mcleod Fergus Cooper Steven Agnew, MLA Niamh Randall Jacqueline O’Loughlin Geraldine Wilkins Ellen Finlay Kerry Melville
Why are 100,000 children living in poverty in Northern Ireland?
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Why VIEW has decided to produce a themed issue about child poverty
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By Una Murphy, Publisher, VIEWdigital
early one hundred thousand children are living in absolute poverty in Northern Ireland. Look around and you probably know them through teaching school, at your church, in your community. In five years time the figure will be more than 100,000 children – 127,000 to be exact. What does absolute poverty look like? It is children going hungry, no warm coats to wear in cold weather, not even their own toothbrush. The question we have to ask is
there the political will to do something about this shocking statistic? That’s why VIEWdigital.org community media, which publishes VIEW social affairs magazine decided a themed issue on child poverty was needed. This edition is our 31st and it may make heavy reading with more social policy than we normally produce. We make no apologies for that. We looked at the situation in Scotland and found a greater political will to stop child poverty in its tracks. We need a more joined up approach from the politicians in the Northern Ireland assembly. Action must be taken now to give a better future to nearly 100,000 children living in poverty in Northern Ireland.
Editorial
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VIEW, the online publication for the community/voluntary sector in Northern Ireland
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By Jane Craven, founder and chairperson of the Whiterock Children's Centre, Belfast
hiterock is number one on the indices of multiple deprivation, we have a post conflict legacy leading to many physical and mental health issues, we have traditional inter-generational unemployment. All and any of the other short term projects, inadequately measured, have not addressed these major issues. I say give us a chance. Child poverty will not disappear without a significant change in axis. Has any part of Government the courage to really tackle this? Has any part of Government the courage to use those community activists and providers, those on the street, to design and implement effective strategies? I hope so because if we do not do this we will create a fractured, bitter, undervalued society. In 1988, we provided the first in-house Further Education College childcare. We now have an amazing childcare and family support facility and 30 plus professionally qualified staff. This is an exceptional resource. Can we provide a service to meet the requirements, to improve the quality of life of those in most need in our area? No. What has gone wrong? There is no coherent, cohesive children policy and strategy. There is no recognition or understanding of the functioning and the needs of the community childcare infrastructure, built on the social economy model at the behest of Government. This results in initiatives which are cumbersome, over bureaucratised and therefore designed to fail. There is no one-stop-shop for exchange of knowledge and information on children policy and issues. There are too many initiatives, all short term, underfunded and insufficiently monitored and measured. There is no real intention to reduce child poverty levels. Where is the Government’s statutory obligation to care for children? We have one initiative after another to address some of the problems of poor families, poor working families and poor children. SureStart. BrightStart. What will the next one be? VirtualStart? SureStart was never financed as it was in England. SureStart was implemented in Northern Ireland without reference to the existing, Government generated, social
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Where is the Government’s statutory obligation to care for children?
economy, professional, community located childcare providers. Instead, a new layer of bureaucracy was created, absorbing unnecessarily some of the already reduced budget. What exactly was the point in that? BrightStart is the latest initiative. This initiative is almost unusable by community childcare providers. In fact I am aware of one centre which is choosing not to participate in this initiative. Why? Because it threatens the already fragile financial status of these social economy enterprises. Because it was designed without consultation with community providers.
Why should we have to implement an initiative which is underfunded? It is a case of Government wanting to look as if it is taking action. Those who find it impossible to participate will be blamed. It will be our fault. This initiative seems to me to be, not about providing a service to children and families, to improve the quality of life of children, but to be seen to be doing something ‘good’. That is not good enough. I am now tired of trying to implement Government-designed strategies to address inequality and exclusion. Belfast Areas of Need in the 70s and 80s, Making Belfast Work in the 80s and 90s, Targeting Social Need in the 90s, SureStart in the 2000s, and so on. There has been a plethora of such initiatives, none adequately funded, monitored or measured, except in terms of making sure we accounted for every last penny we spent. The value and effectiveness of the work was of less significance than an auditing and accounting exercise. So much money has been wasted, much energy has been devoted to making Government look good. I say enough. This is what we require: • Children to be central to all Government decision making. The creation of a children's department with a minister and budget. • Government to publish targets for the eradication of child poverty and a timetable for public update on achievement of the target. • A pilot of universal childcare to be run in the Whiterock area over a period of three to five years to measure the impact of the provision on child poverty and other social issues. • A pilot of the 'free school day' to be measured over a period of three to five years to measure the impact of the provision on child poverty and other social issues. • Further Government funded research to complement the earlier piece, 'Universal Childcare in Northern Ireland', launched at NICVA in December 2014, the focus of which was economic impact. Make this project one of active research in the Whiterock area over a period of three to five years to measure those other impacts.
The professor w her mission to c
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Families and Schools Together (FAST) is an award-winning early intervention program that brings parents and children and the wider community together to make sure childfen get the support they need to fulfil their potential at school – and in life. VIEW editor Brian Pelan interviews the woman who developed it – Professor Lynn McDonald
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he best sort of interview usually takes face-to-face and preferably over a couple of glasses of red wine. Sometimes, when that is not an option, a Skype video call has to suffice instead. An hour-long interview with Professor Lynn McDonald on Skype was so enjoyable and informative that I was nearly tempted to open a bottle and offer her a glass. She is warm, funny and intelligent and it felt like I had known her a long time. A lifetime combating the brutal effects of poverty has not robbed Lynn of a delicious sense of humour and a combative spirit. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, US. “My grandmother’s grandmother was born outside Belfast, and so a part of my family is straight from Northern Ireland which was of course Ireland at that time. I feel very privileged to be doing work now in Northern Ireland. Our family left because of poverty and because of the potato famine in 1847. And so the issues of poverty are a big thing in my life that I think is a core value for me about social justice, that no one should have to experience. Lynn's father worked for the US State Department and as a result of his work, the family lived in many countries. “When we moved to Turkey I saw the huge disparities of wealth and poverty and that made me furious. I felt
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again this passionate wish to do something to make a difference for issues related to poverty and all that that brings with it.” During her work for the United Nations, Lynn went to to Brazil. “My work is always in the poorest part of the country where nobody likes to go. The UN sent me to Brazil into the very largest favelas in South America, and I was fabulously impressed by the work
In the United States, we have such horrible poverty and racism that no one knows about it unless they come over – it’s not in any TV shows
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of the socialist government at that time. “They had made a rule that no one should be hungry. And that rule fed into all its policies. “I studied philosophy, specifically
Existentialism. Then I went to get a Masters in social work. I received a PHD and became an academic, I am now a Professor of Social Work at Middlesex University in London. Along the way I did a lot of research on how to engage the parents to protect and raise their kids in a way that would allow optimum conditioning. “In the United States, we have such horrible poverty and racism that no one knows about it unless they come over – it’s not in any TV shows. “I’ve been all over the UK – and seen poverty but in a different form because you still have the NHS and unemployment benefit although I was really depressed by the recent General Election result. When Ronald Reagan was US president, he wiped out public housing support. And later on he said: “What’s the problem here? Why do we have homeless people? Oh, they must be mentally ill. “I’ve been to Northern Ireland many times. I’ve been brought here by Save The Children. “I think that there is a a tendency, but not mine, to make the parents a problem. If anyone ever tries to say that about me there will be a big fight and I will prove that I am right. The whole idea of FAST is about community development and having adults feel socially important and respected for what they know, and supported to share their knowledge to cope.
who has made it combat poverty VIEW, Issue 31, 2015
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Professor Lynn McDonald: It’s urgent to get the FAST program to families who struggle so much “So for example, what that means in real words is that when our program went into the favelas of Brazil, I mean, I’m from Chicago, what can I possibly do? The whole team that’s going to implement the multi-family groups has only Brazilians in that local community, so first of all, implementation is all done by local people. Then secondly, my program has a requirement that the parents who live in that local community make up 25 to 50 percent of the team. A teacher, a community leader, a church person – anyone who is seen with respect in the community. In other words, the people who make the decisions and lead it. “The parents are at the planning stage, the training stage, the implementation stage and the evaluation
stage. No one can believe that we give so much power to parents. Those are two big areas where we’re different. “Because we are trying to get government funding we measure everything. Many other social programs talk about their research but they don’t talk about their retention rates. We talk about our retention rates all the time. “In Northern Ireland they are very high. If a person goes once, 83 percent of them are likely to go six to eight times. “The FAST program has now been running in Northern Ireland for about four years. “If a parent feels respected and supported, they are able to be at their best with their child. Our program is all about strengths and maximizing strengths and helping families.
“But we never target families. We target communities that are poor. “We look what is the proportion of poverty levels. It’s just it’s so urgent to get this program to families who struggle so much. “We bring all the families together, we bring the parents together and in that group, there are no lectures, they are supposed to help and share and find their own power. “And they finish with a lot more sense of being connected and being able to act in institutional structures that are oppressing them.”
• More details about the FAST program can be found at: www.savethechildren.org.uk/abo ut-us/where-we-work/unitedkingdom/fast
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Marion Mcleod Comment Poor circumstances should not become a life sentence
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hildren in the poorest families are far more likely to suffer adversity in childhood than their better off counterparts. We also know that the effects of this early adversity are profound and enduring. The poorest children are many times more likely than those in the richest to have fallen measurably behind in their cognitive development by the age of two. On their journey to adulthood, our poorest children are far more likely to experience instability in their families, insecurity in housing, bereavement and poor educational attainment; in adult life they are more likely to be unemployed or have poorly paid, insecure employment, to develop physical and mental illnesses, and to die prematurely. Poverty, by itself, is not a strong determinant of outcomes. Many poor families provide excellent care and nurturing and their children’s life chances therefore do not vary greatly from those of their peers. Many of the factors and circumstances that do contribute to adverse and unequal outcomes, however, are more likely to occur in poor families. Poor early attachment and bonding, ineffective home learning environments and unhealthy lifestyle choices occur far more frequently alongside material poverty. Put simply, what parents do is much more
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We must ensure that our children have the best start in life
important than who they are. The Scottish Government has made a strong commitment to tackling poverty and addressing inequality, as well as to ensure that “our children have the best start in life and are ready to succeed”. It has also set national targets in relation to child poverty reduction. Reform of public services, to involve those who use them more effectively in their design and delivery and to move towards a preventive rather than a reactive approach to problems, is also taking place. While positive change was achieved, notably in reducing child poverty, the cumulative impact of the economic recession, welfare reform and cuts in public services has slowed the rate of progress.
The Scottish Government has consistently argued that greater control of tax and benefits would enable it to do more in terms of reducing poverty and inequality. Some services have been expanded despite budgetary constraints. Under the 2014 Children and Young People Act, all three and four year olds, as well as vulnerable two year olds, are entitled to 600 hours a year of free early learning and childcare. The Government has announced that it intends to increase this to 30 hours per week for each eligible child following the Scottish Parliament elections, which will take place in a year’s time.
• Marion Mcleod is Policy Manager for Children in Scotland
Towards a Wellbeing Framework: Taking the next steps
How can we help people to live long and healthy lives, safeguard the local and global environment and develop an innovative, fair and sustainable economy?
A new report from the Carnegie Roundtable on Measuring Wellbeing in Northern Ireland sets out seven steps for developing a wellbeing framework, and ten recommendations in order to implement these steps and to introduce a new, innovative way of delivering public services in Northern Ireland.
Join in the conversation at #NIWellbeing and @NIWellbeing
For more information and to download the report visit
www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk
How a charity helped to turn life around for mum and son VIEW, Issue 31, 2015
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By Claire Savage
s a former Department of Work and Pensions employee who previously toured Iraq, Colette Ansell has experienced both sides of the poverty divide. The young single mother, who lives in Portstewart with her four-year-old son Kurtis, is now firmly on the road to financial recovery however, thanks to some timely community support. A report from Save the Children in 2014 claimed that by 2020, almost one-in-four children will be living in poverty in Northern Ireland. Colette’s story shows how easily this can happen. She is upfront about her financial situation, which rapidly worsened after she left the Territorial Army (TA) in 2009. She subsequently hopes her story will encourage others, and show that help is at hand during hardship. Having left school at 16, Colette joined the TA aged 18, completing nine years’ service and touring Iraq in 2008, where she escorted convoys between Iraq and Kuwait. When she left the security of the army in 2009, however, her finances
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Hopes for a brighter future: Colette with her son Kurtis
suffered and after Kurtis was born in 2010, she found herself living in a hostel in Northampton. “That was a real challenge in my life,” she says. “I was also diagnosed with depression, so I was having to deal with that on top of everything else.” Colette was later awarded a social housing place, but gave this up to move in with her partner. After this relationship broke down, she then moved to Northern Ireland last May. “All I could afford in Northampton was a bedsit and I couldn’t do that with a child,” she says. “A friend suggested Northern Ireland and I fell in love with it. “It’s more affordable and there’s a better quality of life here.” Joining Causeway Coast Vineyard Church in Coleraine, Colette learned of CAP – Christians Against Poverty – a national debt counselling charity which has helped turn her life around. Having accumulated a series of moderate debts, including rent, council rates, electricity arrears, credit card and tax credits overpayment, which collectively totalled around £10,000, she felt stuck.
“CAP took all my financial information and copies of my records of debts in December,” she says. “They put me forward for a Debt Relief Order (DRO) and have negotiated with the companies I owe money to.” With a monthly budget to stick to, Colette, who relied on food banks over the winter, is now also completing the CAP money management course. “It’s made a huge difference in my life,” she says. “I’m now on a part-time health and social care course at the NRC in Coleraine, and I’m about to start a full-time job in a care home.” With plans to study nursing or social work at university, Colette has a new positive outlook on life. Although still reliant on welfare support, along with childcare costs from the NRC hardship fund (previously subsidised by Gingerbread NI before government cuts), Colette and Kurtis are anticipating a much brighter future. • For more information on CAP visit: www.capuk.org or Freephone: 01274 760 720.
Making Belfast a safer and shared space . . . B
elfast Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP) is a statutory body which was set up by the Department of Justice and NI Policing Board in 2011 to help build safer, and shared communities and provide support for the throughout this process. The main aim of the Partnership is to make the Belfast a safer and shared place to live and work, by reducing levels of crime and antisocial behaviour. Belfast PCSP acts to support all our communities through various projects and initiatives delivered throughout the City. The partnership also has a statutory responsibility to try and help build relationships between communities and the PSNI ensuring that voices of local people are heard. In Belfast there is an overarching Belfast PCSP for the city and then four district PCSPs for the north, south, east and west of the city. The district partner-
ships focus on localised issues and deal directly with residents and community groups to represent the area. Each partnership grouping is made up of councillors, independent members and representatives from local and statutory organisations such as the PSNI, the Housing Executive, Health and Social Care Trusts, Fire and Rescue Service, Probation Board,Youth Justice Agency and Education Authorities. The PCSPs work has included campaigns to tackle drugs, anti-social behaviour, hate crime, legal highs and human trafficking, as well as supporting citywide youth projects such as the annual Youth Awards and the UR Zone sports cage project. District PCSPS projects have included the installation of drug bins, running fireworks safety campaigns, deploying mobile CCTV, hosting crime prevention events, burglary advice campaigns, road safety
events in schools and other emerging issues such as cyber crime. Several public meetings are organised throughout the year, with the next ones expected in early Autumn. The meeting dates and venues are listed on www.belfastcity.gov.uk/pcsp. The Partnerships also fund two rounds of small grants per year which are awarded across the city following an application process granting up to ÂŁ5,000 per project. Belfast PCSP are committed to providing support and services in order to make our city a better place to live and work not only for the community but also a welcoming place for those who visit this wonderful city each year. If you are interested in hearing more about the PCSP in Belfast, sign up to our e-zine. Simply email your name and address to pcsp@belfastcity.gov.uk
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Steven Agnew, MLA Comment
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n election as an MLA, I became acutely aware that there was wide criticism from within the children’s sector of the failure of government to deliver on outcomes outlined in the OFMDFM Ten Year Strategy for Children and Young People. All children should receive the services they need to reach their full potential. We must ensure that their basic needs are met and their rights protected. To put it in context, Northern Ireland has some of the highest levels of child poverty in the UK, with 21 percent of children living in persistent child poverty, double the rate for Great Britain. Poor outcomes for local children,
despite a higher level of government spending per person compared to Great Britain, suggested that an opportunity existed to improve the current governance model of children’s services. There currently exists a statutory duty to cooperate in England, Scotland and Wales. However there is currently no requirement for departments or public bodies to co-operate with each other on the issue of children’s services in Northern Ireland. That is why I am seeking to introduce the Children’s Bill, the objective of which is to create a statutory duty to co-operate across all government departments. The intention is to improve outcomes
for children by supporting, enhancing and encouraging co-operation to ensure that children’s services are most integrated from the point of view of the recipient. I have worked closely with a wide range of organisations from the children’s sector and have received unanimous support in the Assembly. We are now working on amendments to the Children’s Bill which will return to the Assembly in the autumn. I will be calling on all parties to reaffirm their commitment to this legislation and urge you to do the same.
• Steven Agnew is an MLA for the Green Party
Practical advice and a sensitive personal approach. We pride ourselves on our unrivalled commitment to clients’ needs.
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Contact Jenny and Teresa: Edwards & Co. Solicitors, 28 Hill Street, Belfast, BT1 2LA. Tel: (028) 9032 1863 Email: info@edwardsandcompany.co.uk Web: edwardsandcompany.co.uk
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By Geraldine Wilkins Fighting Words Belfast Development Officer
Using word
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story created by a group of primary school-age children in a recent workshop facilitated by Fighting Words Belfast began with the words: “Veronica had a dream that she was working in McDonalds. One day, her dream came true . . .” Fighting Words Belfast is a new creative writing project for children and young people. The beginning of a story is generated by the group working together and then volunteer mentors provide one-to-one support during which each participant develops the story to make it their own. Since its launch in March, the project has hosted school and community groups who have created stories about humans and dogs – with superpowers, about jelly creatures, noodle shops and ghost trains. In this particular workshop the children went on to describe Veronica who, they said, was very dirty and wore ragged clothes. A traditional fairy tale story in the making, it seemed, with the addition of unlimited hamburgers as a modern twist. Then Veronica’s greatest fear was revealed: ‘She didn’t want her manager to find out she was homeless in case she was sacked’ and it became clear that this wasn’t a fairy tale at all- it was a reflection of the anxieties that children are picking up in their everyday lives. It was a story reflecting fear of homelessness and unemployment, a story of modern day poverty. The volunteers with Fighting Words Belfast create a safe space where children and young people can free their imagination and tell their story, whatever shape it takes. Free two-hour workshops are offered to primary and post-primary school groups and to youth and community groups. If you would like to find out more about the project, do get in touch.
• Fighting Words Belfast is a partnership between Fighting Words Dublin, Young at Art, Duncairn Cultural and Arts Centre and Skainos, For more information go to http://www.youngatart.co.uk/projects/fighting-words-belfast, or contact Geraldine Wilkins on geraldine@fightingwords.co.uk.
Three pupils, from Donegall Road Primary School in Belfast, taking part
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t in the Fighting Words Belfast project
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Image Brian Pelan
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Lynda Wilson Comment Some of the children we work will not even have a winter coat
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orthern Ireland continues to have amongst the highest rates of child poverty across the UK, according to the Campaign to End Child Poverty. In areas of Northern Ireland up to 32 percent of children are living in poverty which means families of four living on £12 a day or less to pay for food and fuel, even in the areas with the lowest rates of child poverty there are still 16-17 percent of children living in poverty. There is much talk about definitions of child poverty and measurements but what child poverty actually looks like for the children Barnardo’s is working with is, not having a winter coat, not having fresh fruit or vegetables, not having properly fitting shoes, not having an outdoor space to play in, not having books at home and not having outings or any treats beyond the day to day. It makes birthdays and Christmas and buying school uniforms financial pressure points for already stretched families. It can lead to underachievement at school, health issues and dependencies. It can mean struggling to find work on leaving school and once unemployed facing permanent ‘wage scarring’ which means they’ll earn less than their peers and poverty can become a cycle. Spending your early years in deprivation does more than anything else to limit your chances of being an equal citizen with the same dignity and the same opportunity as everyone else. Barnardo’s knows that behind the statistics sit the most vulnerable children in society whose life chances risk being compromised by a collective failure to tackle child poverty effectively. The factors driving hardship are complex and vary from family to family. We
work daily with families where the grim reality is vicious cycles of debt and impossible choices between heating homes or cooking hot meals for their children. We are increasingly referring growing numbers of families who are in work to food banks. Many families are finding that income from wages simply isn’t keeping pace with the increased cost of basic essentials like food and fuel. Families are also forced to turn to food banks because of benefit cuts and delays with payments. Study after study has shown that taking a child out of poverty is the single most productive investment a government can make, saving at least seven times what it costs. Barnardo’s NI believes there are a number of steps which could help reduce
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child poverty including an increased emphasis on literacy, numeracy and early intervention to address educational underachievement. Targeted, evidence-based intensive literacy support should be embedded from a young age to address the significant gap in educational attainment which is already evident by primary four. We are also calling for the development of a collaborative, cross-departmentally funded community schools strategy with a long term commitment to high quality early intervention programmes and evidence based practice aimed at improving achievement. Other measures which are vital steps towards tackling child poverty include the publication of a NI Child Poverty Strategy with a fully costed Action Plan and similarly a NI Childcare Strategy and associated Action Plan which should address the development of additional, flexible and affordable childcare provision at a local level to meet the needs of parents working atypical hours or zero-hours contracts. One of Barnardo’s founding ethos’ from the nineteenth century was that every child deserved the best possible start in life and we are still fighting to achieve that in 2015. Child poverty is the product of social, political and economic choices which means we can choose differently. There is no excuse for child poverty and it is up to the NI Executive to commit to take the urgent action required to ensure that every child has the same life chances and the eradication of child poverty. • Lynda Wilson is the Director of Barnardo’s NI
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Ellen Finlay Comment A fully costed child poverty strategy is needed
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hildren in Northern Ireland together with Save the Children Northern Ireland co-chair the Child Poverty Alliance. We are a loose Alliance of 60 organisations that came together in 2008 to raise awareness of child poverty and to campaign to end child poverty within Northern Ireland. We are an inclusive coalition committed to campaigning for and addressing child poverty by working collaboratively with an evidence-based approach. Poverty affects people of all ages, but children are the single most affected group. Children living in poverty experience deprivation, social exclusion, and vulnerability. They face multi-dimensional circumstances that create various life-long difficulties. Poverty also denies children their rights and weakens their physical, psychological and intellectual development.
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Child poverty is becoming a problem of working families, a problem of low wages and insecure work
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) predicts that relative child poverty will increase to 30.9% Before Housing Costs (BHC) and absolute child poverty to 38.5% (BHC) in Northern Ireland by 2020-21. It is against the background of these child poverty levels that we continue to press the Northern Ireland Executive to develop a fully costed child poverty strategy. Child poverty must be taken seriously if it is not, then the 2020 statutory targets to end it will be missed by a huge distance. We are under no illusions that the scale of the challenge is huge. The public expenditure cuts as part of the UK government’s austerity measures since 2010 have had a disproportionate impact on the Northern Ireland economy due to the heavy reliance on the public sector. Moreover, many women are employed in public sector jobs and their unemployment has an adverse impact on
levels of child poverty. Much attention is given to the importance of access to the labour market as the chief way to tackle poverty, but it must be stressed from the outset that more than half of all children in poverty live in families in Northern Ireland where an adult is working. Child poverty is becoming a problem of working families, a problem of low wages and insecure work. The tendency is for the Northern Ireland Executive to explain that what they can do is limited. However we would argue that the Executive has choices about its priorities. Child poverty must be a priority for the Executive more than ever before; as we await the outworkings of the next wave of £12 billion welfare cuts from the newly elected Tory government. • Ellen Finlay is Policy Officer at Children in Northern Ireland
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Fergus Cooper Comment T
he plan to reduce child poverty by 2020 is no longer on target with rural areas in Northern Ireland among the worst affected. In March 2010, with all party support in Westminster, the Child Poverty Bill was enacted. It set out three income-related targets that the Government must meet by 2020:
• Relative Poverty of less than 10 percent Before Housing Costs (BHC)
• Absolute Poverty of less than five percent (BHC) • Combined Low
• Income and Material Deprivation of less than five percent (BHC)
So in 2015 – the mid-progress point – how are we doing in Northern Ireland? If we look at child poverty rates by council areas (based on the old 26 districts) we can see that child poverty rates have declined significantly in Belfast and Derry and that there is now an emerging rural
dimension to child poverty. Back in 2008-9 Derry had the highest relative child poverty rate at 36 percent BHC and Belfast was not far behind at 29 percent. The corresponding 2012-13 figures are Derry 23 percent and Belfast 19 percent. Derry now ranks in 15th place, Belfast in 12th place. Fermanagh is the district council area with the highest child poverty rate at 30 percent closely followed by Omagh and Strabane 29 percent, Coleraine 27 percent, Newry and Mourne 27 percent and Down 26 percent. The decline in fishing, farming and construction, the reform of public administration, and the closure of shops and banks have all impacted on rural districts. The digital economy and service industries are key growth sectors, however these are attracted to areas with both high broadband speed and access to graduate trained labour, typically urban areas. Will the ambitious targets be met by 2020? The answer is No. To achieve the targets one would have
expected to see relative child poverty around 16 percent by now to make further progress achievable by 2020. As the measure is based on median income there would also need to be a closing in the gap between highest and lowest earners. Over the same five year period income inequality has grown and the top earners now earn 96 times the lowest income as against 90 times the lowest income in 2009-10. In work poverty has also grown in recent years with 52 percent of children in relative poverty now living in a working household. The Conservative Government is committed to further welfare cuts and capping welfare payments to a maximum of £22,000 per family so the trend in child poverty is likely to be upwards in Northern Ireland rather than downwards over the lifetime of this government.
food for them. “Teachers are reaching into their own pockets to help some of the poorer children. “I am very worried how the welfare cuts being debated in the Northern Ireland Assembly will impact on poor children and reduce their chances of succeeding at school. “It is a perfect storm as everything is set against poor children, however hard the teachers try you just can’t compensate for the rest of society. “If there is poverty in the home parents are worried about paying for electricity or food and there is a huge anxiety which the
children pick up on and they get anxious too and don’t learn well when at school,” Mr Brown added Several thousand teachers replied to the NASUWT when the union asked its members to let them know how child poverty is impacting on the classroom. The teachers’ concerns ranged from children not having enough to eat, arriving to school with no socks or coats in bad weather and sick children sent to school because their parents could not afford to take time off work. “Some children are living in Victorian conditions," one unnamed teacher told the union.
• Fergus Coper is a member of the Joint Forum between government and the community and voluntary sector.
‘Victorian conditions in some of our schools are hitting children’s chances’
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By Una Murphy
eachers have warned that the issue of child poverty is already having an impact in some schools in Northern Ireland amid claims that “Victorian conditions” are hitting poor children’s educational chances. The NASUWT carried out a survey among teachers and among those replying more than two in three reported seeing pupils come to school hungry. Fred Brown, Junior Vice President of the NASUWT said: “Some children in Northern Ireland are coming into school hungry and teachers have to get
Why we urgently need to tackle food poverty VIEW, Issue 31, 2015
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By Kerry Melville, Coordinator, Belfast Food Network
early 9000 people have received food parcels from independent and Trussel Trust food banks over the past two years in Belfast, as they could not afford to feed themselves or their families. This is a serious issue that has been rapidly increasing over the past decade, yet there is little political recognition of the problem. Many households have difficulty in accessing an adequate diet, with parents increasingly skipping meals in order to feed their children. The Belfast Food Network recently commissioned the ‘Enough is Enough’ scoping survey to find out the scale of the problem and to identify the reasons behind the growth of food banks in Belfast. Carried out by Jenny McCurry on behalf of Advice NI, and funded by the Public Health Agency, the survey identified low-income as the main reason people collected food parcels – meaning that people in work cannot afford to feed their families. This was followed by benefit cuts, delays and sanctions. Advice workers highlighted the failings of the social security and tax credit systems that leave families without crucial
income, leading to increasing referrals to food banks. Food banks are a crucial emergency response for people in dire need. There are also excellent projects, such as Fareshare NI and FoodCloud, which collect surplus food from industry and redistribute it to charities that provide meals to vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, including low income families, and homeless people. However, these projects should not become the ‘solution’ to food poverty. They don’t tackle the root causes of why a person is unable to afford healthy food or why there is such a phenomenal amount of
food waste in the first place. There is absolutely no justification for people going hungry in such an affluent society, where food is regularly thrown away. People should not have to rely on charity to feed their families. The Belfast Food Network is working with a range of organisations to develop a collaborative response and invites all concerned organisations and individuals to join us in trying to make healthy, nutritious food more accessible to everyone in Belfast. • The report can be accessed at www.belfastfoodnetwork.org/
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VIEW, Issue 31, 2015
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Paddy Hillyard Comment ‘Imagination and courage’ is needed to end child poverty
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nder the Child Poverty Act 2010 (CPA), the Northern Ireland Executive has a legal obligation to assist the United Kingdom in meeting four key measures to reduce child poverty by 2020. Over the decade, the Executive has developed a number of ineffective programmes packaged under changing and confusing titles. There is still no comprehensive, coherent, integrated, evidence-based and costed strategy to end child poverty in Northern Ireland. Moreover, the annual reports required under the CPA to report on progress have been vacuous and have mainly consisted of a list of departmental activities most of which will do little or nothing to reduce the number of children being brought up in poverty. The statistics on the extent of child poverty are shocking. The latest figure (2012) shows that around one fifth of our children are in relative poverty (60 percent below the median income of all individuals in Northern Ireland). This proportion will increase substantially as a direct result of the welfare cuts. Apart from blighted life chances, child poverty is estimated to cost Northern Ireland and the Treasury a staggering £757 million a year through loss of earnings to individuals, extra spending on services to deal with the consequences of child poverty and loss of taxes.
The cost of eliminating child poverty, in contrast, is estimated to be substantially less at between £550 and £675 million per year. It therefore makes economic and social sense to make child poverty a top priority of the Executive. To reduce child poverty, we must do two things: either increase the resources to poor families or reduce their outgoings. The former can be achieved by a minimum wage guarantee, support for a living wage, regulation of zero hour contracts,
and numerous environmental job creation schemes. To reduce families outgoings, we need universal child care, a free school day, access to affordable credit and advice, breakfast clubs and retrofitting insulation together with other measures to reduce energy costs. In addition, we need to promote the well-being of children through the elimination of the educational attainment gap, expansion of Sure Start, and increases in the unit of resource to primary schools. To pay for such a comprehensive strategy we must redistribute public resources from the better off to the poor. This will involve poverty-proofing of all items of public expenditure, and among other measures: the introduction of a progressive rating system linked to capital value of the house and tax returns, and the development of charges to improve public health and to discourage polluting behaviour. We can end child poverty in Northern Ireland. But to do so requires imagination, courage, joined up government and, most important of all, taking on powerful vested interests in the current distribution of existing resources. If we eliminate child poverty, we will also create a fairer and more equal society. • Paddy Hillyard is a Professor of Sociology at Queen’s University
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Mike Tomlinson Comment
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We’ll live with costs of Tory policies for decades to come
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e will work to eliminate child poverty, declares the 2015 Conservative Party Manifesto, “and introduce better measures to drive real change in children’s lives”. Given the policies of the last five years and the likely outcome of the July 8, 2015, ‘emergency’ budget, there is no prospect of eliminating child poverty by 2020, unless ‘poverty’ is radically redefined. While the Coalition government can claim that relative income poverty declined on their watch, this was mainly due to an overall fall in average household incomes and a change in the way deprivation is measured. In Northern Ireland, for example, the proportion of children in income poverty went down by three percentage points, but this was because the median household income fell by 12 percent between 2008/09 and 2011/12, while the incomes of the poorest tenth held up better. The combined low income and deprivation measure of child poverty also went down. This was because the list of deprivation items was changed such that the deprivation poverty measure fell by four percentage points – from 16 percent to 12 percent. On the other hand absolute income child poverty rose by two percentage points. So this is a mixed record and the future looks bleak for several reasons. First, the Manifesto commits to tax cuts that will be paid for by more reductions in public expenditure and will result in further increases in income inequalities. We can also expect the growing gap between N. Ireland and British living standards to widen even more. Within Northern Ireland children in the poorest areas will be left further behind the majority of children.
Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron at the launch of his party’s manifesto earlier this year
Secondly, benefit cuts initiated in the early years of the Coalition are predicted to increase child poverty in N. Ireland by eight percentage points (six in Britain) over the 2010-2020 period (the modelling includes the impact of Universal Credit). Across the UK, there are expected to be 700,000 more children living in poverty by 2020 – one in three children will be living in poverty. The next set of poverty figures, released in June, are widely expected to show a substantial increase in relative income poverty. Thirdly, the Conservatives see the root causes of poverty as “entrenched
worklessness, family breakdown, problem debt, and drug and alcohol dependency”. But no amount of policy interventions in these areas will address in-work poverty which accounts for more than half of child poverty or the poverty arising from long-term sickness and disability. We will be living with the social and economic costs of these policies for decades to come. • Professor Mike Tomlinson is Head of School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Queen’s University.
Get inspired by the XChange Summer School – and win £10,000 for your project T he X change S ummer S chool is an innovative event for people who want to bring about social change in Northern Ireland. It' s for thinkers and ex plainers of all ages who want time out to have alternative conversations and change the perspective on areas such as action, bravery, change and diversity. T his year we have an ex citing programme planned. H owever, we are VR GHWHUPLQHG WKDW WKLV \HDUœV ;&KDQJH 6XPPHU 6FKRRO LQ 'HUU\ L ondonderry will not become yet another talking shop, WKDW ZHœUH SXWWLQJ RXU PRQH\ ZKHUH RXU PRXWKV DUH
We want delegates not j ust to be inspired by our speakers who are going to change the conversation on key policy issues, centring around four main themes: action, bravery, change and diversity, but to go on and take action as a result.
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Nigel Owens, the international rugby referee who will speak about the challenge of coming out in Nigel Owens, the international rugby referee, who will speak about the challenge of a macho sport; coming out in a macho sport; x P rofessor J une Andrews, the world authority on dementia will talk about taking on vested interests in government and the medical profession; x R obert Egger, the visionary American T hird S ector leader and founder of L . A. K itchens will j oin us from California via S kype to talk about how he has responded to recession and cuts. x 0DULQD 3UHQWRXOLV D PHPEHU RI *UHHFHÂśV 6\UL]D SDUW\ ZLOO DUJXH WKDW DXVWHULW\ LV QRW WKH way to cure our economic ills. x Ann T ravers and J o B erry, both bereaved by the IR A will be j oined by P atrick M agee, FRQYLFWHG RI WKH %ULJKWRQ ERPE LQ ZKLFK -RÂśV IDWKHU ORVW KLV OLIH IRU D FRQYHUVDWLRQ DERXW how we deal with the past. D uring the event delegates will get plenty of time to digest, discuss and develop ideas that stem from the talks.
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Conversations are great, and help to promote understanding, we want to go further than that and VWLPXODWH DFWLRQ 'RQÂśW PLVV WKLV IDQWDVWLF RSSRUWXQLW\ QRW MXVW WR KHDU JUHDW VSHDNHUV WDONLQJ RQ important issues, but also to do something about it, with up to ÂŁ 1 0 ,0 0 0 available to develop each successful bid.
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Niamh Randall Comment
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he Republic of Ireland’s financial crash affected all its people, but not least those who had little to begin with. Recent years have seen some economic growth, but it’s clear that many of our society’s most vulnerable members are being left behind. Among them are the growing number of children becoming homeless and living in poverty. Recent figures highlighted the crisis. In March, there were more than 1,000 homeless children in the Republic – a 22 percent increase in just two months. These children are forced to stay with their families in emergency accommodation, which often consists of no more than one hotel room. Meanwhile, in May, a report supported by Kellogg’s found that a fifth of adults in the Republic worry over their food budget and half of teachers surveyed see children arriving to school hungry. With 90,000 households on the social housing waiting list, massive pressure on the private rented sector and nearly 38,000 people in arrears of two years or more on their home mortgages, the prospects for families on the edge of homelessness appear bleak.
In 2014, an average of 40 families became homeless each month, double the 2013 rate and this continues to grow. The Children’s Rights Alliance 2015 Report Card was heavily critical of the Irish government’s lack of progress on child poverty and child homelessness. Forthcoming research from the Simon Community looking at women and homelessness highlights a range of adversities experienced by the female participants during childhood including poverty, family difficulties and household instability, with 30 percent experiencing homelessness for the first time as a child. Significantly children who have experienced homelessness are far more likely to experience homelessness as adults. Studies have shown the profound effects that homelessness in childhood can have on development with the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University reporting in 2009 that child homelessness leads to a greater likelihood of experiencing mental health and behavioural problems. Children who are homeless are also more prone to missing school days,
Children who have experienced homelessness are far more likely to experience homelessness as adults
changing schools, and less likely to complete their formal education. For the Simon Communities in Ireland, the homelessness crisis must be addressed using a housing first approach (housing plus support in housing) which leaves no child, family or individual behind. Within our current resources we are striving to provide housing for families as well as on-going visiting support to those experiencing difficulties in sustaining their housing. We need urgent action to support families and children out of homelessness and prevent more from losing their homes in the future. Critical measures include rent certainty, an increase in rent supplement (rent allowance) limits, and the urgent provision of suitable housing along with tailored support services. We need this action now to deal with this escalating crisis affecting our society’s most vulnerable members. • Niamh Randall is National Spokesperson for the Simon Communities in Ireland
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Jacqueline O’Loughlin Comment P
overty is the greatest threat to the wellbeing of children and families across the UK impacting on every area of a child's health, development and reducing expectations and aspirations for their future. All too often poverty is viewed in almost exclusively financial or material terms. Whilst income remains the biggest single cause of child poverty it is important to recognise that for children poverty of experience can be as debilitating. From PlayBoard’s perspective, play is the single most critical activity that children engage in. It provides a mechanism from birth to develop essential skills and understanding about the world around us. For children poverty is therefore as much about a lack of
opportunity to engage in activities that support their inherent play needs and an inability to join in with ‘normal’ childhood activities such as participating in community play schemes. Having no economic power, minimal political influence and limited opportunities to get their voices heard there is little that children can do to alleviate poverty. It is therefore incumbent upon society to ensure that steps are taken to mitigate against its impact. In 1991, the UK Government ratified the United Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). In doing so, it took on a duty to promote and protect the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children including delivery of specific duties relating to child poverty.
Bryson Energy through its New Health Routes project is supporting young families at risk of fuel poverty. Fuel Poverty is a special type of poverty with proven impacts on children’s physical health and wellbeing. Working with health professionals and children’s organisations, Bryson Energy is making it easier for families with children to access the fuel poverty advice and support schemes available in Northern Ireland. For more information on the project contact Rory McManus at rmcmanus@brysonenergy.org
Despite commitments to eradicate child poverty by 2020 we note little progress in Northern Ireland. As lead organisation for play in Northern Ireland, PlayBoard strongly advocate that essential childhood experiences, such as play in the home, community or school should not we viewed as luxuries but legitimate priorities within the wider child poverty debate. We are under no illusions, play alone will not end child poverty and its associated hardships, but it does offer a way of mitigating against the negative aspects of poverty.
• Jacqueline O’Loughlin is Chief Executive of Playboard, www.playboard.org
Barnardo’s NI is based on our founder Dr Thomas Barnardo’s belief that every child deserves the best possible start in life. We are still striving to achieve this through a wide range of services and programmes. Find out more about what we do through: www.barnardos.org.uk/northernireland www.facebook.com/BarnardosNI Twitter: @BarnardosNI
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