To think there is not really any chikdren in poverty in the uk

[Domjolly]

I think last nights comic relief has really brought home to me and my family that there is not really any children in the uk who live in REAL poverty

There is not one child that has to walk 3 hours to school
There is not one child that cant get some form of education
There is not one child who can get medical intervention
I think you would be hard pressed to find familys which children who are homeless or who dont have clean water and sanitation

And i actaully now thing people who say this is insulting to children who do live in real poverty

Of course there is poverty in the UK. No it isn't the same as in Africa and other countries.

People living in properties that have severe damp, and the ll not doing a thing to resolve the situation. Tenants money being spent trying to resolve the issue, money they haven't necessarily got.

A benefit system that makes monumental cock ups with claims, doesn't matter if the claim is jsa or tax credits. These are leaving families without money to live on.

Then there's fuel poverty. Did you know that 4 millions household in the UK are in fuel poverty because of low wages and high energy bills. Not because of drug/alcohol abuse. And that in private accommodation tenants are those affected more.

People fall into poverty for a number of reasons - illness, death of a partner, job losses.

Unlike what is being spouted on here, poverty isn't the main cause of poverty in this country. It is because of low wages. More households with at least one parent working are in poverty. 62% of children living in poverty are in working households. It is projected that the number of children living in poverty is going to increase, over 4 million children in poverty by 2020. Drug and alcohol abusers account for 6.6% of all benefit claimants.

Not all poverty is because of neglect. Sometimes it simply is because families cannot afford to live on low wages and high living costs. Because of the various changed that are being implemented, this is why over the next few years, more children will be in poverty. Not because of drugs or alcohol abuse but because living costs are increasing. The bedroom tax has been mentioned, but also how many families on already stretched incomes, are going to be screwed with the removal of council tax help.

I think you're being obtuse that kids absent from school unnoticed, neglected by drug using parents as if it's a norm
It's not norm,this is minority,not majority
It's v sad and dysfunctional and I hope such situations result in appropriate interventions and outcome

whimiscal exactly, you didnt talk about people who are living in poverty for real reasons and the society is letting down, instead you jumped on the bandwagon of the feckless underserving poor

At what point did I say undeserving poor? neglect/poverty is an ever going cycle neglectful parents are victims just as much as neglected children.

Yabu and clearly don't understand what the word poverty means.

It is parental neglect rather than poverty. Children can have homes, clothes, shoes, food, education etc. However, many don't have those things due to the parents putting their own needs and desires first - such as drugs, drink and cigarettes.

Pingu, it is not neglect. You get housed in a damp vile place which eats up the gas and electric just to keep warm and what little you have left goes on food.

How do you expect people to clothe themselves and their children, pay for transport costs, uniforms etc?

I know plenty of kids who live in poverty (and many who have a working parent too) who cannot afford the basics and most certainly do not spend their money on drugs and drink.

Get out of your comfy bubble.

Pingu - put down the daily mail and take a walk round an area of high unemployment.

Pingu, only 6.6% of all claimants are drug/alcohol users. This still leaves over 55% of children living in poverty. Poverty because of high costs and low incomes, not because of neglect.

YANBU, we dont have real poverty here as the benefit system can actually pay more than many peoples salaries for working.

Chidren have free healthcare, education and if their parents dont wok then the state provides money for housing, food, heat and clothes. If the chid is missing the basics then it is down to the parents and SS should be informed.

Sadly, children are born all over the world into families that dont financially support them but those peope see it as their right to choose the lifestyle choices they want regardless of the cost to others.

A mobile, internet etc are frequently described as essentials on here, which just sums up the fact that poverty is viewed very differently here to those truly in real poverty.

oh dear memegenerator.net/Hello-My-Name-Is-Pingu/images/new/alltime/page/2

It is parental neglect rather than poverty. Children can have homes, clothes, shoes, food, education etc. However, many don't have those things due to the parents putting their own needs and desires first - such as drugs, drink and cigarettes.
These are in the minority, apart from which, what made the parents like that in the first place?
Have you had an empathy bypass?

Happymummy, you are so utterly wrong on this. Educate yourself.

I am taking legal advice through the CAB thanks Smudge it's just long and arduous and sometimes I cannot see an end in sight. I am honest at my tether's end and there's not much anyone can do for me, short of loan me money, which I can't accept anyway as my pride won't let me. I got myself into this whole (with the council and benefits system pushing and shoving I may add), I'll get myself out of it too. If it does mean giving up my kids until I do so, I guess that that's what I have to face up to really. It's a combination of my mismanagement of money while I am ill and cock ups and lies from "the system". All I want is a home, no bailiffs, care as we need, and opportunity for my children to do well for themselves through schooling and hard work. I accept in any underprivileged country, I'd likely either be dead or on the streets a beggar because of my health.

HappyMummy that was a joke, right?

scottish the point is not all children in the uk have access to healthcare. To say that they do would be incorrect.

The point is if why does it have to be the Bangladeshi community raising money? Does it matter the ethnicity of the child?

Dawndonna I think your post was a joke! Totally miscomprehension of what it's like to live in a workless household.

What a callous post. Domjolly, are you Iain Duncan Smith? Or George Osborne? Or a Telegraph/Daily Mail journalist?

Is HappyMummy being ironic?

It is parental neglect rather than poverty. Children can have homes, clothes, shoes, food, education etc. However, many don't have those things due to the parents putting their own needs and desires first - such as drugs, drink and cigarettes

Bullshit pingu

Happymummyofone
Not heard of fuel poverty?

fuelpoverty.turn2us.org.uk/

I don't think so. Another who lives in a comfy bubble.

Yawn....back to people who don't understand the difference between absolute poverty and relative poverty.

Fact is if you are born into a lower socio economc class you are likely to be sicker and die sooner than if you were born in social class 1.
I don't care if we call it poverty or not.....it exists and the evidence and statistics are there to back it up.

scarlett dawndonna was quoting pingus post

Sorry- dawndonna- i thought that was your opinion!

happymummy there are many children who don't have access to public funds.

no it's not neglect - wages, especially in the public sector where many low waged, especially female, people work have been frozen for a few years now (but hey your council tax hasn't risen) but fuel, food, petrol, transport costs have risen and risen - people are finding it difficult to feed their families and heat their homes, hunger and cold are a fact of life for many parents and sadly some kids - for example

that's not neglect it's being POOR