Government pledges to end children living in B&Bs

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn12 minutes agoShareSaveHayley ClarkeEducation reporterShareSaveGetty ImagesThe government has pledged to stop children growing up in B&Bs and to make childcare more accessible for families on Universal Credit as part of its child poverty strategy.It expects to lift around 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030, “the biggest reduction in a single Parliament since records began”, with measures including scrapping the two-child benefit cap.Homelessness Minister Alison McGovern said the effect of temporary accommodation was a reason attributed to the death of children and babies, and that if newborns were still being living in B&Bs by the time “I finished my job, I’ll consider myself a failure”.Homelessness charities welcomed the plans, but called for greater changes to lift people out of poverty. In England alone, more than 172,000 children are living in temporary accommodation.To address this, the government plans to end the “unlawful placement” of families in B&Bs beyond six weeks.Councils are currently only meant to house families with children in B&Bs as a last resort, and for a maximium of six weeks, the law says.But figures from April to June 2025 show that more than 2,000 children had been living in B&Bs for longer than that.Child poverty levels are currently at a “historic high”, the government says, with 4.5 million children – roughly a third – living in relative poverty after housing costs. Three quarters of these come from working families.McGovern said the strategy is about putting a “proper roof over our children’s heads”.Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she said it “really, really shocked me” that in the five years to 2024, 74 children – including 58 babies – died and “one of the causes that was attributed to their death was the effect of temporary accommodation”.She added that the government wants to make sure no newborn babies are discharged from hospital into B&B accommodation, which she is “sorry to say does occasionally happen”.”If that’s still happening by the time I’ve finished my job, I’ll consider myself a failure,” she said. The government’s child poverty strategy comes after announced it would scrap the two-child benefit cap in April, expanded free school meals to all children from families receiving Universal Credit, and introduced free breakfast clubs.”Too many families are struggling without the basics: a secure home, warm meals, and the support they need to make ends meet,” Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said.Meanwhile, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said there was “considerable uncertainty over how large a reduction in measured poverty these policies will ultimately deliver, partly due to genuine economic uncertainty”.On ending the two-child benefit cap, it said it was forecast to account for 450,000 of the children lifted out of poverty by the end of the Parliament, with the remainder attributable to expanding free school meals.Other announcements, including on temporary accommodation, were targeted at “much smaller groups of people”, the IFS said.Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said: “You don’t lift children out of poverty by making the whole country poorer.”She said work was “the best way out of poverty”, adding: “Only the Conservatives have a credible plan to grow the economy, support parents back into work and tackle child poverty.”The government says the “devastating impact” on children living in temporary accomodation includes damage to physical and mental health, missing school and family disruption.James Cassidy, headteacher of Eton Park Junior Academy in Burton-upon-Trent, told the BBC that he increasingly sees pupils coming into school tired, anxious and stressed, having a knock-on effect on their concentration and friendships.He said the “vast majority” of pupils’ families w …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]