Loose Woman Denise Welch's battle to stop kids going hungry - 'this has to stop'
Starting a new school year is daunting for most children but millions have gone back to class hungry and with no proper uniform – in some cases, even no shoes.
As nearly a third of all kids are now living in poverty, with 800,000 from households forced to use food banks, Loose Women star Denise Welch today launches her Hope Not Hunger campaign in the Sunday Mirror. The mother of two is a proud Geordie – and the North East has seen one of the steepest climbs in child poverty, up 35% in eight years.
Denise, 65, said: “We are launching in the North East because it is my neck of the woods but it is a national problem. We want to do whatever we can to alleviate poverty in the kind of communities I grew up in. There are children going to school without food in their tummies, families relying almost solely on food banks and baby banks. This has got to stop.”
Denise met mum Michelle Lower and her baby Harper-Rose (North News & Pictures Ltd)Hope Not Hunger, in conjunction with charity Children North East, is calling for a national plan to eradicate child poverty. It says the Government can do this by:
■ RELAUNCHING the national Child Poverty Strategy – scrapped in 2015 – including a ring-fenced child poverty fund and a deal to ditch the two-child benefits cap, along with the cap on the overall maximum amount a household can claim.
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■ INCREASING the level of Universal Credit by £15 per child per week to ensure parents can at least meet their children’s basic needs.
■ CREATING a dedicated plan to tackle low-paid, insecure employment and the soaring cost of childcare.
Denise – mum to The 1975 frontman Matty, 34, and Louis, 22 – met families at the Children North East community hub in the Cowgate area of Newcastle. The charity says 67% of kids in poverty are from homes where at least one adult works and many working parents using its hub struggle to pay for school uniforms and nursery fees.
Mum-of-three Salma Gaffar with her son Mohammed (North News & Pictures Ltd)And of the 20 parliamentary seats that have seen the biggest increases in child poverty rates in the UK, six are in the North East.
Centre user Kelsey Roberts, 26, is a nursery nurse but cannot afford fees for son Vinnie, one, which are £200 a week despite a 40% work discount. She said: “I am a hard-working mum and I still struggle to make ends meet. The mum-shame and mum-guilt is just awful.”
Mum-of-three Salma Gaffar, 38, told Denise she struggled to pay for shoes for her nine-year-old this term.
The centre also helped parents cut the cost of summer activities, as single mum Michelle Lowe says soft-play sites can cost up to £30 for a session. The 31-year-old, mum to Abel, two, and five-week-old Harper-Rose, also described the centre as a lifesaver after it helped her through a decade of drug addiction.
Michelle said: “I now volunteer. The children have somewhere to play for free and we meet other families. It’s an incredible environment.
“And I am hoping the skills I have learnt here will also help me get back into work.”
Denise launched Hope Not Hunger in Newcastle (North News & Pictures Ltd)But vital services like this are under huge pressure.
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Steph Capewell, founder of baby bank Love, Amelia, told Denise 29 of the families it helps do not have beds for their kids. She added: “One child couldn’t have shoes fitted because the dirt was so ingrained in his feet. He cried because he was so happy when he got a pair.”
Steph, 29, launched the charity in 2018 after her daughter Amelia died just minutes after being born - Steph donated Amelia’s newborn clothes to a teenage mum in the hospital because she was so desperate for baby supplies.
Since then, she says the situation for working families has reached “breaking point”.
Denise met families at the Children North East community hubShe told Denise: “We have families who have been forced to steal school uniforms because they’re so expensive. We see people who are very much in crisis. At the minute, about 30% of our referrals come through for working families.”
Meanwhile, Hartlepool Baby Bank has been forced to limit clothing for the first time in its four-year history as demand outstrips supply.
The baby bank's chair Emilie de Bruijn said numbers visiting the centre are growing at a rate of 50-60 new families a month: “Mums are being pulled in so many directions at the moment. Costs of everything have risen like crazy, children need new things, my daughter’s school dinner cost has exploded and there’s the guilt of trying to provide, and it’s that guilt that is causing mental health issues with mums.”
Shadow Schools Minister Catherine McKinnell joined the Loose Women starDenise said: “People are being left to pick up the pieces and bridge the gap in Government failings. We are urging the Government to urgently address these issues. It’s something I also want Labour to tackle head-on.”
Leader Keir Starmer has refused to axe the two-child benefit cap, saying “tough” choices are needed to win No10.
Shadow Schools Minister Catherine McKinnell said the party would provide free breakfast clubs in every primary school and cut uniform costs.
The Newcastle North MP also revealed what kids tell her is most important to them is no longer play facilities. She said: “The main thing they say is, ‘I don’t want my mum and dad to worry about money.’
Denise with staff at the centre in the Cowgate area of Newcastle, where child poverty rates are rising“Families in the North East and right across our country are being put under terrible strain by the Conservatives’ economic chaos and spiralling price rises.”
Denise added: “We have to make a change because no child should be living this way. It’s appalling.”
- To learn more about Children North East, visit children-ne.org.uk and to make a donation click here.
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