Ruth McDonald, Practice Development Advisor for Save the Children Cymru has heard from families struggling with rising costs how being provided with educational toys, books and supermarket vouchers can lead to better opportunities to play and learn with their children
Falling autumn leaves transform dismal streets into a spectacular blaze of colour. Glorious sunshine lulls us all into a false sense of security! But the reality is winter has most definitely arrived and behind every door people are afraid, stubbornly resisting the inevitable ‘switch on’ for as long as possible.
I’m driving through Ely, an area of Cardiff facing many difficult challenges, on my way to visit some parents; bracing myself to hear how this latest cost of living crisis is affecting families already struggling to cope.
We're meeting at Our Place’s Dusty Forge, an old 19th century pub, which was turned into a thriving community centre in 2015 by Action in Caerau & Ely (ACE) - a community developed charity owned and run by residents.
Instead of serving pints, it now supports the community with a crisis drop-in, volunteer-led clothes shop, food pantry, food bank, warm bank, café, community garden, training, and lots more. Walking through the doors of the Dusty Forge is like walking into someone’s home – warm, friendly and welcoming!
The Pause to Play project
ACE is one of Save the Children’s key partners who, along with three other organisations, co-designed and delivered a research project called Pause to Play.
We wanted to find out if giving a supermarket voucher, play resources and one-to-one or group support would take some of the pressure and stress away from parents, leaving them in a better frame of mind to spend time playing with their children. We know how important those early years are and how hard it must be for parents to give children the attention they need when all they can think about is where the next meal is going to come from, how to pay the bills and Christmas just round the corner.
We also know how many people need the help of a grant from our recent report which highlights some of the main problems families are experiencing and how these problems can combine to make day-to-day lives more complicated and challenging. Pause to Play digs deeper into what impact that immediate relief can have for parents/carers and their children.
What parents told us
One single mum working in the health sector cried as she described having to use a food bank, something she never expected to need. She said she feels like a failure! Her money simply doesn’t go far enough. She is scared about winter fuel costs and terrified that rising interest rates could lead to her losing her home.
Dad of two, asylum seeker and former university lecturer who speaks five languages, told me his family are trying to live on £38 a week. He said that volunteering for the Dusty Pantry has given him a sense of purpose.
Families told me that the supermarket vouchers had brought a ray of hope into their lives. When money is tight and there is nothing left for extras, parents feel enormous guilt that they are unable to provide for their children. Apart from obvious household essentials this extra money helped with buying school uniform, shoes and even the odd treat.
Themed play sessions as part of the Pause to Play project inspired ideas for low-cost activities that families can do together at home. One mum told me she feels so much more confident in her parenting skills now and is better able to cope because she feels less stressed. She said, “anxiety makes you snap at your children - you just don’t have the patience to sit down and play with them.”
Another young mum of two said, “I felt that everything I was doing was wrong – being told I’m not a bad mum has given me so much more confidence. It's not about having expensive toys for my children; I realise now it's more important to just give them my time.”
Every family said that they didn’t want the project to finish.
What more can be done when there is “too much month at the end of the money”
Politicians talk about ‘levelling up’ yet sadly for so many, the playing field is far from level. Our partners report that families are sliding deeper into debt because there simply is ‘too much month at the end of the money.’ Teachers say children are coming to school hungry and filling up on bread and butter - something unheard of not so long ago! Others tell us households have turned off their boilers and are living without hot water or heating.
I’ve heard parents say they’ve cancelled direct debits, borrowing money they know they can’t repay and living in fear of bailiffs turning up at their door. Ominous words like ‘inflation’, ‘austerity’ and ‘recession’ instil fear and there is no doubt this extra stress impacts negatively on family life. Children are innocently caught up in a web of political meanderings!
Following the recent autumn announcement, Save the Children is calling on the UK government to introduce a cost-of-living package that targets children specifically. We want to see an increase to the child element of Universal Credit of £10 per month per child to provide sustainable support for children and families long-term and that childcare costs and better routes to sustainable work need to be addressed. We also need to ensure that the real-term cuts to the Welsh Government’s funding will not affect families in Wales needing access to vital services.
We also want to see Welsh Government presenting key targets and milestones to provide an urgent co-ordinated approach to tackling child poverty at local and national level allowing public and third sectors to work together. And that all programmes of support including free school meals and the childcare offer are available to all those children in Wales who are living in poverty.
At Save the Children we not only believe every child deserves the best possible chance in life – we are fiercely determined to try and do something about it.
For further information on our work in Wales click here \ Cymraeg
