'Poverty creates layers upon layers of difficulty for families'

Almost a quarter of UK families with children under four are living in food poverty, according to a recent report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI). In that context, the British Psychological Society is working to influence the UK government's Child Poverty Taskforce, to highlight the impacts of food poverty and insecure housing.

As well as the shocking rates of food poverty in under-fives in the UK, the EPI report also pointed out that food poverty was particularly damaging in younger children. 'Food poverty experienced by under-fives is associated with worse physical health – including obesity and tooth decay – as well as worse mental health and behavioural outcomes. Food poverty is detrimental to education – it is associated with worse cognitive development, maths and vocabulary skills.'

The EPI has made a number of recommendations to the government, including that future child poverty strategies should include a focus on food poverty in families with children under five and universal free meals in early years settings. The report also pointed out that the Healthy Start scheme has not kept pace with inflation – this scheme helps pregnant women and those with children under four who are receiving benefits to purchase healthy foods and get free vitamins – and suggests the government could increase the value of this scheme and review it every six months.

The UK government's Child Poverty Taskforce, launched last year, is looking at short- and long-term approaches to reducing child poverty, and the BPS has recently submitted a response to it. The BPS hopes to engage around the development of a government Child Poverty Strategy, set to be published later this year.

Dr Rachel Bradley, Chair of the BPS Division of Clinical Psychology Faculty for Children, Young People and their Families (CYPF), and Consultant Lead Clinical Psychologist at Stockport CAMHS, was involved in the BPS response to the Child Poverty Taskforce. She pointed out that child poverty was a hugely complex issue to tackle with many interconnected, intergenerational, and systemic issues at play. 'If you're hungry then you aren't going to be able to concentrate, you might show more difficult behaviours, all of which can impact on someone's ability to engage with learning. If parents are going hungry too that can impact their stress levels and we know that children's development can also be affected by parental stress. Poverty creates layers upon layers of difficulty for families.'

Last year the CYPF had insecure housing as a theme, focusing on families living in insecure private rented accommodation or experiencing homelessness, as well as children in care, those living in inpatient mental and physical health settings and refugee and migrant families. 'Some ethnicities are really over-represented in homelessness and insecure accommodation, and in inpatient settings,' Bradley said. 'One of the articles in the latest edition of The Child & Family Clinical Psychology Review looked at the challenges that insecure accommodation brings to families in helping their children to access physical health services.'

Given her day job in CAMHS, Bradley said she recognised the importance of preventative approaches. 'In our service, we have children and young people with really significant difficulties, but we need more funding for prevention and early intervention services.  There are similar analogies to be made with child poverty – it would be so beneficial to put more funding into food poverty, especially for under fives, in a preventative way to help them in their development.'

Read the full Education Policy Institute Report on Food Poverty in Under fives. Read the 2024 edition of The Child & Family Clinical Psychology Review.

Dr Rachel Bradley is Chair of the BPS Division of Clinical Psychology Faculty for Children, Young People and their Families (CYPF)