Mayor takes first steps to reduce North East’s ‘unacceptable’ child poverty

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has set out plans to tackle poverty in the region, starting with a commitment to help parents with the cost of childcare.  

Almost a third of children in the North East region live in poverty, including around 118,000 in the North East Combined Authority area.

The Mayor has made reducing child poverty central to her term in office. The first step to help families will be developing the Mayor’s Childcare Grant, which will help parents find or return to work and keep more of their earnings. 

The childcare proposal is thought to be the first of its kind by an English Mayor.   

Single parent families and families with under-5s are disproportionately affected by poverty in the North East. A part-time nursery place for a child under two now costs an average of £148 per week, and working parents face an average bill of £175 per child per week for childcare during school holidays.    

Announcing her plans at a visit to poverty charity Love, Amelia, in Sunderland, the Mayor confirmed her intention to establish a Child Poverty Reduction Unit, which will develop and drive a region-wide strategy.  

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said: “I want to make the North East the home of real opportunity, however too many children see their potential and life chances stifled by growing up in poverty. That’s simply unacceptable and not something we should not tolerate as a region.

“This is personal for me: I've seen first hand how low pay, insecure work and an inadequate and uncaring benefits system can trap families. It’s a situation that’s all too familiar for families across our region and has worsened over the last 14 years.

“Tackling poverty is a huge challenge, however I’m determined to bring everyone in our region together to turn this around, working with our charities, local authorities, community groups, businesses and the Government to ensure no one is held back by poverty.

“By tackling poverty in the North East, we can ensure everyone benefits from devolution and the investment we’re seeing in the region – creating prosperity and opportunity for all.”

Beth Farhat, Chair of the North East Child Poverty Commission, said:  “It’s not right that almost a third of all babies, children and young people growing up here in the North East are having their opportunities limited by all the barriers poverty can bring.  
  
“This is not only damaging the development and future prospects of tens of thousands of kids in our region, it is holding the whole of the North East back – but devolution presents us with a real opportunity to prioritise tackling this issue, together.

“It is so important that Mayor McGuinness not only understands how reducing poverty and hardship will underpin everything else she wants to achieve, but she is also committed to working with others to drive forward strategic, joined-up action on this issue – something we at the North East Child Poverty Commission have campaigned on for some time. 

“We look forward to working closely with the Mayor’s new Child Poverty Reduction Unit to help improve the living standards and life chances of families and children across our area.”

Steph Capewell, Chief Executive of Love, Amelia, said:  “I am delighted to see the recognition of the challenges faced by children and families experiencing poverty, and we warmly welcome the child poverty reduction initiatives coming to fruition.  The announcement by Mayor Kim McGuinness embraces a cross-sectoral approach to tackling child poverty in the North East and is a significant step forward.  We look forward to seeing the outcomes of this initiative and are eager to work collaboratively with our partners to continually support families across the region.” 
 
The Child Poverty Reduction Unit is set to be backed with £500,000 investment, with its first priority to develop the Childcare Grant. The plans will be brought before the North East CA Cabinet in September for consideration.

Under the child poverty reduction unit, the Combined Authority will work with the North East’s seven local authorities and the wider childcare system to develop the most effective way of tackling poverty.  

The grant would add to existing and planned Government and local authority support, to top up what families already benefit from and reduce the financial pressures of childcare for residents moving into, or back into the workplace. Families often face additional costs which they have to self-fund, for example in school holidays and associated costs such as meals.