One in 10 parents in poverty say their child’s been bullied for being poor

A recent survey shows one in ten parents living in poverty say their child has been bullied because of their financial situation.

This was the finding of a study carried out for the parenting charity, Parentkind.

What the survey found

Parentkind surveyed 2,000 parents of school-age children from low-income households.

The results highlighted the struggles many families face, particularly when it comes to school-related costs.

It found:

• Average school costs: parents living in poverty spend an average of £2,000 annually on school-related costs.
• Debt to cover school costs: nearly a quarter of parents reported going into debt to pay for things like school trips and transport to school.
• Bullying due to poverty: one in ten parents said their child had been bullied because they were poor.
• One in 20 children living in poverty go to school hungry.
• One in eight children rely on food parcels from their child’s school.

Parentkind described the findings as ‘shocking’ in showing the heavy financial burden that school costs place on low-income families.

Calls for change

The charity has shared its report with the education secretary Bridget Phillipson and work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall.

It’s calling for urgent action to reduce school costs for the poorest families.

Parentkind’s recommendations:

• Set a target to lower school costs: the charity suggests setting a target to reduce school costs for low-income families by half over the next five years.
• Free schooling as a solution: Parentkind argues that making school costs free for these families would increase their household budgets by a fifth or more. This could be a good option for the government as they look for ways to cut welfare costs.

Jason Elsom, chief executive at Parentkind, said:

“We need the government to urgently start talking about parents in poverty alongside child poverty plans to make sure we support these parents.”

Mental health impact on children and parents

The National Education Union (NEU) has expressed concerns about the emotional toll poverty takes on children and parents.

Daniel Kebede, NEU’s general secretary, said: “With nine children in every class of 30 growing up in poverty, teachers and school leaders see the very real impact this has on our children and young people.

Kebede noted how struggling with every day costs is having a “devastating impact” on the mental wellbeing of both children and their parents.

He said the child poverty strategy (which sets out the vision to end child poverty in the future) is a huge opportunity for government to act decisively to lift thousands of families out of poverty and to ensure that every child has the best chance in school.

“This is not an opportunity they can afford to miss,” said Kebede.

What's the government doing?

The government says it’s committed to tackling child poverty and reducing the link between background and opportunity.

It’s committed to:

• Free breakfast clubs: starting in April, the first 750 schools will offer free breakfast clubs, funded by over £30m.
• Reducing school uniform costs: the government is capping the number of branded school uniform items to lower costs for parents.
• Increased funding for schools: pupil premium funding has been increased to over £2.9bn for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
• Child poverty taskforce: a taskforce is working to create a strategy to address the challenges faced by families living in poverty.

The state of child poverty in the UK

As of the year ending March 2023, there was an estimated 4.33 million children in households living in relative low income after housing costs.

The UK government is set to release updated statistics on the number of people living in low-income households on Thursday (27 March).

Help for parents

If you’re struggling with schooling costs, many local councils and specialist charities offer grants to help with uniform prices, transport costs, essentials items or educational tools. 

Do you need money help?

If you’re facing money worries, it may be time to ask for help.

We give impartial advice and can put together a realistic budget you can stick to, to help you take control of your money. 

If you’re in arrears, we can advise you on debt solutions online or you can give us a ring.