'I don't know how I'm going to put food on table let alone days out in summer holidays'
Almost half of parents (48%) are more worried about being able to afford things for their children this summer holiday compared to last year, grim research shows.
This rises to 69% for lone parents, a survey by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) found. Some 45% of parents say the cost of childcare is a challenge over the summer and 29% say they have to borrow money or go into debt to cover these costs, the study found.
Parents said they will struggle to pay for food and snacks and other basics for their children, such as sun cream, as well as fun activities like sports clubs, a trip to the beach or small treats like an ice cream.
Some 44% of parents said they will likely use a foodbank this summer holiday and two in five families (39%) said they would likely use a clothing bank.
And more than half of parents (52%) said they were worried about the continued pressure on living standards taking a toll on their children's mental health this summer, while 48% said they were worried about their child's physical health.
One parent told the survey: 'I don't know how I'm going to put food on table let alone days out.' One mum, speaking about their son, said: 'The money is just enough to pay the bills and buy essentials. I do feel for him because as a family we can't enjoy outings or short breaks during the summer holidays (which were fun at one time).'
Another parent added: 'It [the summer holiday] should be a happy time, but for many people, it's just another mountain to climb. I wish there was more low-cost or free help for families during the holidays. We do our best, but it doesn't always feel like it's enough.'
Head of education policy at CPAG Kate Anstey called for the two-child benefit limit to be scrapped.
CPAG research estimates that ditching the Tory-era policy, which restricts claims for Child Tax Credit and Universal Credit to the first two children, would lift 350,000 children out of poverty and mean 700,000 children are in less deep poverty.
Ms Anstey said: 'This research shows there will be more worry than wonder this summer for millions of desperate families who can't make ends meet. Ministers have promised better living standards and opportunity for all but with children facing another summer cut off from fun and friends - much more action is clearly needed.
'Government's autumn child poverty strategy must restore investment in support for families – including abolition of the two-child limit – otherwise a generation of children will be left behind.'
A government spokesman said: 'We recognise the school holidays can be a pressurised time for parents, which is why this government is putting pounds back in parents' pockets both during the holidays and in term time.
'We are also continuing to fund free holiday clubs through the Holiday Activities and Food programme which provides six weeks of activities and meals for any child from a low-income family who needs it.'
::: Survation surveyed 1,580 UK parents on income-related benefits with at least one child aged 4-18 years for CPAG between July 10-17.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
14 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Inside abandoned Soviet-era nuclear missile base where three people died hidden deep underground in forests of Lithuania
The base housed Soviet R-12 Dvina missiles and remained a secret until US spies spotted it in 1978 SECRET BASE Inside abandoned Soviet-era nuclear missile base where three people died hidden deep underground in forests of Lithuania Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) DEEP in the forests of western Lithuania, a chilling relic of the Cold War still lies hidden — a secret underground nuclear missile base where three people lost their lives. The Plokštinė Missile Base, buried in Žemaitija National Park about 30 miles from the Baltic Sea, once housed Soviet R-12 Dvina missiles pointed at Western Europe. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 8 Soviet-era nuclear missile base in Lithuania where three people died is now a Cold War Museum Credit: Wikimedia Commons 8 Hidden deep underground in forests, it housed missiles pointed at Western Europe Credit: Wikimedia Commons 8 Three people lost their lives at the nuclear missile base Credit: Wikimedia Commons Today, it's the park's top tourist draw, transformed into the Cold War Museum and attracting 35,000 visitors in 2024 alone. But behind the eerie exhibits of Lenin statues, Soviet flags and dimly lit tunnels lies a deadly history. Museum guide Aušra Brazdeikytė, who grew up nearby, told CNN: "A soldier fell to his death when his [safety] belt broke during a routine service check. "Two other soldiers died during a nitric acid spill while trying to refuel the missile." Completed in 1962 after two years of construction involving more than 10,000 workers, the base was one of the USSR's most secretive sites. Surrounded by barbed wire and a two‑mile electric fence, it remained hidden until US satellites finally spotted it in 1978 — by which time it had already been decommissioned under disarmament agreements. The entrance, still marked by a Russian sign reading 'Please, wipe your feet,' leads down to a labyrinth of rooms and four silos plunging 100 feet underground. Visitors can now peer into the abyss of one of the shafts, which never launched a missile but claimed lives during service. The site once housed around 300 soldiers in a ghost town nearby — bizarrely converted into a children's summer camp called Žuvėdra ('seagull') after the base shut down. Its bus stop still bears a mural of a gnome on a mushroom holding a flower. Inside abandoned Antarctic clifftop 'ghost station' where Soviet boffins battled -90C gales 1000s of miles from anywhere After Lithuania broke free from Soviet rule in 1990, the base was abandoned and stripped for scrap. It reopened as a museum in 2012 with EU funding, giving the public rare access to a facility once designed for nuclear war. Today, the stark remains of the Plokštinė base — its mud‑covered hangars resembling ancient pyramids — stand in sharp contrast to the idyllic lakes and forests around it. The region, once a militarized zone bristling with rockets, is now a gem of slow travel in Lithuania. The museum's exhibits walk visitors through propaganda, weapons technology and daily life under Soviet control. Lifelike mannequins dressed as grim soldiers add to the unsettling atmosphere, making the underground tour feel like stepping back into the Iron Curtain era. For locals like Brazdeikytė, memories of the base run deep. She recalls soldiers becoming part of everyday life, often working on nearby collective farms but never daring to talk about what lay beneath the forest floor. 8 Base, once surrounded by barbed wire, opened as museum in 2012 with EU funding Credit: Wikimedia Commons 8 Visitors can now peer into the abyss of one of the shafts, which never launched a missile but claimed lives during service Credit: Wikimedia Commons 8 The base housed Soviet R-12 Dvina missiles and was hidden until US spies spotted it in 1978 Credit: Wikimedia Commons 'We worked alongside soldiers from different Soviet republics at collective farms, but never discussed military topics,' she told CNN. The base's location in Plokštinė forest was chosen carefully by Soviet planners: the sandy soil was easy to excavate, nearby Plateliai Lake provided water for cooling systems, and the sparse local population meant fewer eyes watching. Visitors today can combine the chilling underground tour with the natural beauty above ground. Žemaitija National Park offers cycling and hiking trails, and Lake Plateliai is a favorite spot for campers and nature lovers. The nearby town of Plateliai is home to an 18th‑century wooden church and even a Mardi Gras museum with its famous carved masks. But deep beneath the birch trees and Baltic pines, the echoes of the Cold War — and the lives lost in its shadow — linger in the silence. 8 The facility was abandoned after Lithuania freed from Soviet rule Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
I've never been prone to nostalgia. But when I stop by our old London home, memories come upon me in a flood
Back when we took photographs with actual cameras and film and had the pictures printed at the chemist, we took a snap of our son on his first day of school. He sat on the front steps of our then home, a terrace in London. He smiled awkwardly, barely managing to sit still for all of the excitement. I don't think of those London years very often. Life passes so quickly that living in the now feels imperative. But being back in London with time on my hands 22 years after returning permanently to Australia, the memories came upon me in a flood. It was late spring. The milky light and warm days made me languorous and nostalgic about those few years we spent living there. Personal memories about people, I find, are very attached to place. I've written before about how I find it hard to visualise my long-dead parents because they never visited our current home. So it has been with my boy (can I truly still call him my boy now that he's a very much alive 27-year-old, 196cm-tall motorcycle-riding man?). What I mean is, I can't readily remember the emotional sense I had of parenting him when he was the child in that first day of school photograph. He was accident-prone – born wriggling and wanting to run. Always hitting his head. Falling. Getting up. Falling again. Running towards danger. A risk-taker. But recall of him in the London years – when we, his parents, were both travelling constantly and serving early-morning and late-evening Australian newspaper deadlines – sometimes lacks definition and detail. One afternoon recently I hopped on the tube and headed to my old neighbourhood. I planned to visit what was our grungy though welcoming local for a drink. Alas it had transformed into a hyper-expensive steak joint and, even though it was empty, I couldn't sit and order a drink without also paying extortionately for some Argentinian beef. I wandered to the nearby common with its perilously steep bitumen path. I felt the trepidation I always experienced when watching the boy careen down it on his scooter always narrowly missing (except when he painfully collected it) the Victorian-era metal bollard at the bottom. And then there we were, walking hand-in-hand along the high street in the sleet and wind while he fought to stay awake (he developed the weird ability as a four-year-old to sleep lightly while he walked holding my hand). I walked past what we called the Billy Goat's Gruff park where one of us would play the troll under the bridge while he traversed the little wooden bridge above. It's how we met the 'weather lady', a kind woman, in her early 60s back then, who talked endless about the grim winter. She gave our boy a pair of mittens because she was worried about his cold antipodean hands. I wandered down our old nearby street. Stopped opposite our former home, right about where someone was stabbed 20-something years ago while I cooked dinner inside. There was the boy on the step, ready for school. And suddenly I could recall how it felt to be me back inside the house. Memories, disjointed but vivid, competed for attention. That first real summer day when the boy's desire to celebrate the season was so vivid he stripped off all his clothes, as he routinely did in Australia, and ran into the back yard. Later, him sitting on the back step, still buck naked, eating watermelon and spitting pips into the garden. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Next, him sitting on the carpeted bottom step of the internal staircase on the eve of his third birthday. He was weeping uncontrollably. Inconsolably. Had something terrible happened? Was he afraid? No. He confided that he was devastated that this was his final day as a two-year-old and he would never ever be two again – and he wanted to remember, to cling on to forever, the 'feeling of being two'. He had few friends back then. We'd arrived on a bitterly cold New Year's Day. We knew nobody in the neighbourhood. We made the most of his third birthday party: the neighbours and their kid from one side and the much older couple from the other (they were probably my age now at the time) came to sing Happy Birthday. The kind weather lady came. With a present of course. I left our old street and went to a cafe. Wrote this all down. I've never been cheaply sentimental or overly prone to nostalgia. But the feelings this day were a lot. Snap out of it. I headed back to the tube. And there, on the other side of the road, hunched almost double over her shopping buggy, was the weather lady. That's when I really felt time's arrow. Paul Daley is a Guardian Australia columnist
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Cotswolds mum says 'don't be afraid or ashamed to use food banks'
A mum-of-two living with a serious long-term illness is urging those in need not to "be afraid or ashamed" to seek help from food which is not her real name, said Cirencester Foodbank gave her emotional support, financial advice and essential food parcels after she received a life-changing diagnosis and an eviction Wynn, the Gloucestershire food bank's CEO, said 35% of its users were in work. He called for the government to provide those in need with more practical help.A government spokesperson said it was "determined to help people out of poverty and tackle the unacceptable rise in food bank dependence in recent years". Despite commanding some of the highest house prices in South West England, more than 2,000 children are classed as living in poverty in the South Cotswolds constituency, according to the area's MP. Alice and her family were evicted from their home just two months after she received her diagnosis last said the pressure of her situation was "overwhelming" and "almost too much to take" before she reached out to the food bank."They won't judge you or make you feel small, they are there to help," the 40-year-old said. Alice claimed she initially felt "embarrassed" at the thought of relying on other people, but their assistance made it feel like a "weight has been lifted"."[I feel] much better and much happier now knowing I've got their support and something to fall back on," she added. 'Multi-faceted' issues In a recent report, Cirencester Foodbank found an increasing number of those with mental health issues and long term illnesses were asking for also said almost three quarters of men referred to the service were Wynn said the reasons behind food bank use in Cirencester were "multi-faceted", with one issue being that people struggled to access cheaper supermarkets in towns."There's a bit of a premium for people living in [rural] spaces whereby, to get to low cost food, you have to have access to transport," he added difficulties surrounding "low income seasonal work" in rural areas also contributed to food bank usage among working Wynn said he would like to see employers offer staff more information about benefits. 'Broken welfare system' Dr Roz Savage, Liberal Democrat MP for the South Cotswolds, said child poverty was often said she would like to see the Labour government remove the two-child benefit cap, introduce more support from early years onwards and protect Personal Independence Payments."The most vulnerable members of our society are being squeezed even further when they just can't afford it," she Department for Work and Pensions said it was launching breakfast clubs, increasing the Universal Credit main rate above inflation and reforming the "broken welfare system".
