Save the Children launches appeal for children in the UK

[Vagaceratops]

BBC link

And it will get worse :(

Disabilities vary hugely. I have two on paper but I can work without a bother. That does not apply to everyone. My cousin with schizoaffective disorder simply can't work. No one would have him, frankly. He's just not able because of his condition.

That is not what i said. I was just pointing out who is and isnt exempt from prescription charges.

I don't think I had said those on DLA did not pay prescription charges. I am not a benefits expert by any means. I think ti is appalling that in a supposed United Kingston and Scota and Welsh do not pay them even if they earn £100m a year though.

Anyway on the piont of a higher tax allowance that is Tory and Lib Dem and presumably labour policy and we are inching up to £10k having now reached over £8k. For example it means the five of us who live here in this house will get SPAs of £41,000 except we have to take me out of that as not only don't I get tax credits and soon won't get child benefit but I don't get any tax allowance at all. The rich have taken a massive hit in this financial crisis and the left never mention that at all. We get no thanks whatsoever.

Tax simplication is something no Government ever manages, except Lawson got our rates down to 40% and 20% at one point which was such a change after having had about 5 different staggered bands.

we keep going on about benefits, when are we going to acknowledge that not all families in UK can claim benefits? there are many families in the area I live with no access to public funds or asylum seekers, and they may not be homeless, but the children's centre teacher told me she went to one families house and they were living in a room on the fourth floor, 2 parents and 3 kids in small room, and they shared bathroom and kitchen with around ten other families.

Many live in peoples back garden sheds with no sanitation, running water etc, the council is trying to crack down on this.

So yes I would say there are those in definite poverty which have nothing to do with benefits.

This is not just about benefits.

The left wing people on this thread might enjoy the TUC spoof tax avoidance magazine which is quite funny (the right can laugh at themselves of course, we are much more fun).
kerchingmagazine.com/

The thread seems to have degenerated again into benefit bashing.

The topic is children in poverty and what we need to do to get them out of it.

So far it seems STC define poverty as lacking a foreign holiday, Sky TV and a mobile phone.

It's not a definition I suspect most of us would agree with.

Does poverty exist in the UK? Of course it does. Do I believe the figures presented in the article. No I don't given the above definition of the problem.

Do I believe the solution they propose of raising benefits and paying a living wage is the answer. No. And so far I've not seen any coherent argument here that it would.

The rich have taken a massive hit in this financial crisis and the left never mention that at all. We get no thanks whatsoever.

Umm, pardon me for mentioning it, but it was actually the rich banking sector which caused this crisis. Who were then bailed out by the public sector.

I really understand why 'the rich' would expect thanks for that.

So far it seems STC define poverty as lacking a foreign holiday, Sky TV and a mobile phone.

According to their website, poverty is a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 kids) with a household income of 15k or less, often having to choose between heating or food. Children have no access to hobbies or extra-curricular activities and thus are severely disadvantaged compared to other children.

hope that helps :)

Vagaceratops

I went to Sainsbury's the other day and looked at the prices of tea and coffee. I did not buy any. As the previous poster said, there's nothing wrong with water.

Jesus, do we begrudge people on benefits the luxury of a hot cup of tea now?

I don't agree that the rich caused the recession. Feckless poor people in the US borrowed money on houses which they could not afford. They are not robots they are sentient beings responsible for their own decisions. Arguably the poor buying more than they could afford caused this recession. That was one cause. Secondly markets always go up and down - it is how they work.

Yes, I am the tap water drinker although at my current income level it is because it seems better for me than any other product. I don't drink alcohol, caffeine is never going to do much good. Cola and squashes are the work of the devil. Hot chocolate is basically dariy which we don't need, cacao a stimulant and sugar. I could go on. And then I cycle where perhaps some my age do not often use bikes although I accept not everyone can afford to buy a second hand bike on Ebay.

'Feckless poor people in the US borrowed money on houses which they could not afford. They are not robots they are sentient beings responsible for their own decisions.'

But feckless lenders and government by big business had nothing to do with it, of course?

even if we raise benefits, and living wage how does that help asylum seekers and those with no recourse to public funds?

That's an interesting interpretation of the situation Xenia. I'd thought it was something to do with mortgage bonds and nice fat fees to banks for every mortgage they sign up, and a bit of fraud added to the mix. These banks were targeting people on low incomes for the purposes of getting them signed up to mortgages and they were well aware they were lending to people who probably wouldn't be able to pay the money back.

The economists can't agree on the precise cause of the crash so I doubt we'll agree on here.

This campaign has been launched because of the frankly horrific statistics in what is supposedly a developed country.

3.6 Million children live in poverty in the UK.

1.6 million of these live in severe poverty.

Nearly 60% of these children have someone in the family that works.

Poverty affects a child's health, their education, their future.

And it affects nearly a third of children living in the UK.

The feckless American scum!!!

What a sense of entitlement wanting a roof over their heads!!! It's not like houses and flats are essential, they could always live in a cardboard box.

Sorry if wasent clear before

I meant double the tax income threshold not raise income tax. to £12,000 as if treasury stopped being so money grabbing with taxes and most of what people earnt was theres be no need for complicated means testing and tax credits as you taking away one hand, giving back with other, how many times we hear tax credits cocked up want money back leaving families in dire straits.

my ideas might be bit socialist but I am not

what about free breckast clubs? ours is £2.50 a sesssion and opens at 8-9.

that way poor kids can least get decent breckfast

thinks ome schools have dome this.

2ndly school dinners-contraversial I know

but free school dinners from age 3-18 whilst in education.

There would be no stigma then as know parents when looking round schools look at amount of free schooo meals to work out if schools deprived .

cheaper after school clubs ours is £7 for 3.15 -5.30.

During holidays maybe target the low parent families with holiday club vouchers as amount of holidays kids get makes it hard for average orking parent who gets just 5-6weeks holiday allowance a year.

More free after school clubs-allows deprived children to have hobbies, aspirations who knows compete in olympics one day,

sure starr-now where do i start often linked to schools , only go up to age 5 and havent captured the target as lost middle classed use them maybe open up family centres like day centres where familes of all ages could go for very cheap or free meal-call it teh family cafe.

free youth clubs for youngsters -again gives them socialisation, stops them getting bored and in trouble somewhere warm and safe for them to go.

free nursery places from age 2 as term after 3rd birthday quite late.

state run nurseries with eitrher cheap or free childcare dependant on income , state subsidised open 8-6 least 51weeks of the year.

I think my throwing money at things like this would

mean some reckless parents dont squander it.

way to target the deprived poor kids specifically.

some of the measures like free school meals for all would remove the stiigma of free school meals .
after all we feed every prinsioner dont we and they get more spent per head than a school child.

improve and build more schools with more tas and one to one support and counsellers for kids that need that.

As an ex employer I know some employers discriminate against mothers , experineced this first hand when went ack to work after my 1st.

We keep saying poverty dependant on income

but surly poverty is when you have more going out than going in and that could be the case even on middle incomes-we have no spare cash at end of month and we careful.

I do wish we stop throwing every benefit at pensioners just because they vote. People say ahh they paid their taxes they worked hard they deserbe it but most of us now wont have final salary pensions and working until we 70.

The recession was few peoples faults but mainly the banks.
quantative easings not working or bailouts banks just hoarding teh money whilst the economy takes a nose dive and the eurozones not helping the uk.

If anything it feels worse now then it felt in the credit crunch.

I still cant believe we dident bail out woolies as that was 3000 on the dole and destroyed so many communities.

can i chuck in my tuppence worth?

i'm currently writing up my thesis on benefits as a single mum. me and my dc get £143 per week and the rent paid...can i just say that it in an UNSUSTAINABLE way of living. And all these people in it for the money? I can only say that I must be doing it wrong! That is about 7k a year to live on. That is what the majority of single parents are living on. That would be 10k LESS than the poverty line.

also, earning this little, means that significant barriers are presented to those who receive these benefits long term - the inflexibility of the system to take ad hoc and short term contractual work, also the inability to present yourself appropriately for a job and secure childcare to attend interviews and training days for employment.

gets my bloody goat when people make these 'flat screen tv' assertion-bollocks!

I'm afraid it doesn't surprise me. Wages are so low in some sectors vs standard of living, and the exclusions for state benefits so many, that many families are having to resort to food banks now. It's truly appalling that so many people are struggling so badly. Many people were living on an economic knife edge before the recession, and it's got astronomically worse in recent years. I'm afraid it will get worse- there will be children and adults starving soon in Britain.

I'm sure that you don't accept that it was the rich that are responsible for the recession, Xenia.

But given that the rich are the ones with the power, and the poor are not, who on earth else could be responsible?

I went to Sainsbury's the other day and looked at the prices of tea and coffee. I did not buy any. As the previous poster said, there's nothing wrong with water.

There is nothing wrong with water, but are you suggesting that poor people shouldnt be able to drink anything else?

The reason I picked out that quote in particular was the use of the word 'these', which added a sneery tone to the statement.

Do you reallŷ think its as simple as 'rich people have power, therefor they are all to blame, and poor people have nothing so they are all innocent victims'

Really?

I didn't use the phrase 'innocent victims' but, other than that, yes. The wealthy elite are to blame for this financial crisis. It's hardly the fault of the millions on the minimum wage or less, is it?

It's very easy to pick one target and blame it. What we need is action, not blame and people trying to take personal responsibility and looking for work and indeed trying to create it where they can (see entrepreneur's thread and many others).

The mam list is a bit like the article I just read about an Israeli kibbutz. Groups of parents could set up collective communist style groupings and share childcare etc. It is this idea that the state must always provide which has never really worked.

One thing is for sure it is much much better than it has been in the UK over my own lifetime and earlier than that and how it is for many on the planet. However the hardest thing for anyone even a family on £40k a year who go down to £20k is change. If you had more and then have less it's hard. If you only know people say in 1950s East End of London who don't have much plenty of people said they had really happy childhoods, no idea there was more out there so they weren't jealous of wanting more.