Dame Helen Mirren Heartbroken As Children Face Winter Without Warm Clothing
Dame Helen Mirren has branded it “heartbreaking” that tens of thousands of children might be facing winter without warm clothing and that some families are “dreading” Christmas because of poverty.
The actress and Barnardo’s ambassador said many families are “living from hand to mouth” as the charity’s latest research suggested there could be around 300,000 children in the UK without a winter coat.
Around 15% of parents surveyed by YouGov for the charity said they will struggle to afford a coat or warm clothing to keep their children warm this winter while around 2% of children said they do not have a winter coat.
The charity said it used ONS families and households data for 2024 combined with the survey findings to estimate that there could be as many as 300,000 children in the UK without a winter coat and around 2.2 million parents struggling to afford a warm coat or clothing for their children.
Separately, a recent survey of Barnardo’s frontline staff, found almost half of the 870 workers polled said they had seen children, families and parents going without essential clothing.
Dame Helen said: “When families are living from hand to mouth, as so many families are in the UK even today, it just takes one thing to go wrong, and they can be in a crisis. Parents always try to protect their children and keep them fed and warm.
“I grew up after the war and for us money was always very, very tight, but I was lucky because my father didn’t get ill and didn’t have to stop working.
“It’s heartbreaking that so many children will be hungry and cold this winter, and too many families will be dreading the festive season.
“That’s why Barnardo’s is helping families keep the heating on and the fridge full.”
The charity is among many campaigning organisations to have repeatedly called for the two-child limit to be scrapped.
Expectations are high that changes to the policy – which came into effect in 2017 under the Conservative government and restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households – will be announced in next week’s Budget.
The latest figures, for the year to March 2024, estimated there were 4.45 million children in households on relative low income – a record high since comparable records for the UK began around two decades earlier.
Barnardo’s chief executive Lynn Perry said: “Behind the sparkle of the festive season we know there will be children worrying about having enough to eat, making do with a coat that’s too small and feeling left out of the celebrations.”
The charity is encouraging people to donate if they can and drop off any unwanted, pre-loved children’s winter coats to their local Barnardo’s charity shop.
– Barnardo’s said 1,016 children aged six to 15 and 1,132 UK parents of children aged 18 and under were surveyed online by YouGov in October.
Published: by Radio NewsHub