Why are so many children living in poverty in the UK? - BBC Newsnight 

Back in 1930s, price of a three bed house in Lonon including all the purchase costs was around £850. Seventy years later, by the turn of the century, the same house costs £600,000. This means, the house prices have gone up by a staggering 700 times, while the wages have gone up by barely 100 times. This explains the real cause of children's poverty. Period.

The two child limit on universal credit sounds good in theory however it won't stop people from having more than two kids they can't already afford. When I see families struggling with children - I feel sad for the innocent children who were brought into the world by parents already struggling.

If that woman with a 7-month-old baby is a lone parent, why did she have another baby?

If you cannot afford, why bring 4 innocent kids to this world ? Then complain that you only eat one meal a day?

Because rent is more than a mortgage!!! Madness

Shocking to see the UK became such a third world country. If you look up north and outside London its even worse. The amount of homeless people and people on drugs you see on the streets is horrendous. 😢

These people are angels who are working to help others. They are the real HEROES. It is better to die rather than starving out of poverty every single day.

I have sympathy with people struggling, I really do. But, it's limited when people with 4 kids are complaining. Why did you have 4 kids in the first place if you cant afford them? If you've got no money why are you starting a family and bringing a child into the world in poverty, or having more kids when you're already struggling with 2 or 3 kids? That sounds harsh but it's true. Having kids is a privilege, not a right. The media narrative never raises this question, ever. Why? Because they're too scared of upsetting people who don't take responsibility for their own choices.. They never explore the premise that if you don't have any money, don't have more kids. Simple. Harsh reality deserves harsh truth.

Now I live in Asia, I realise that large parts of the UK are just completely grim.

Maybe don’t have 4 kids if not financially capable. A child is a huge commitment and now they will suffer due to incompetence of the parent

But there still is a royal family that spend millions on weddings, birthdays, and events.

why do women continue to have children when they can't afford the ones they already have? I really don't understand it.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to be a single parent. Having a spouse that can help you by either going to work or taking care of the kids reduces so much stress. Very saddening that these interviewees are going through this hardship

One of the women in this report, said she only get’s support for the oldest two, and then said she has another one of three and one of seven months. That’s when I start to lose patience. I know people say that they shouldn’t be told how many children they should have, but to me, just be sensible. If you can’t feed the two you have already, why go on and have another two. NI’m quite prepared to be shouted down on this.

These charities shouldn’t exist, the state shouldn’t be allowing people to fall in this poverty. We are seeing the effects of poverty.

People have different priorities. Sometimes you will see them with cigarettes or fast food and then they need the food bank etc. Well this has to stop and feeding the kids comes first.

Nowadays, nurturing a child remains unaffordable in most countries. Think about it before becoming pregnant.

Rich getting richer and the poor and becoming extremely poor

im not saying people dont deserve any help from the gov in these harsh times, but how do you justify having 4 children while having a low income? i just can't wrap my head around that. and where are these fathers?

"we invited the gvt but they declined" says it all really

I grew up in Polish village, till early 2000 we didn't had car, we are working class and one thing that always hits me that I had always access to health food - my granpa was growing his own cucumbers and tomatoes in garden, we had cow to get milk and they had potatoe fields. It was the time that junky food started to be everywhere but my mother was always provider of vegetables and quality food. They were/are hard working people. It is so challenging to people to eat cheap and with health benefit but when you grew up in right environment with access to information about f.e. chemical components of food or how it is produced, it is easier even if you poor.

Sad, but people need to evaluate having multiple children with having resources to care for them. Hate to be so harsh.

Im not judging everyone here because i know some people are genuinely struggling and doing all they can but alot of the figures come from young single parents who prioritize cigarettes, booze, and tarting themselves up and other pleasures over the essentials and most important things they need to consider and they end up bringing kids into a family life which is a trainwreck. and i genuinely do feel sorry for the kids because i know its no fault of their own.

She had the first kid, had to stop working and struggled and then she went on having three more kids. Yeah, very smart thing to do.

Poverty line. 375 a week for a couple with 2 kids under 5 after housing costs.that's not poverty. this programme is shyte

Where were the husbands/ fathers in this report?

1.5 million live in poverty and the rest live just above the poverty line. Really no difference... When I was a child my mother was told that she earned 50 pence over the bread line so I wasn’t entitled to free school dinners. It’s laughable looking back.

UK style of poverty is much different from absolutely poverty. I guess many people not in poverty around the world are still envying the poverty life in UK.

I don't care from which part of the world 🌍 you come from,being unproductive,cant provide for your own kids is the most painful feeling one could ever experience as a parent.....

I don’t understand why people *have more Children* and they know that they can barely feed themselves. Can’t they wait til time is right when they are financially stable?

Any economy is poor without healthy children

What makes uk poverty even more cruel, is unlike in other places eg some countries in Africa, its invisible. You cant simply identify it just by seeing someone outside, as a result most people see the world through rose tinted spectacles and are unaware of it.

I wish I could help everyone in this world I know it sounds absurd but I wish I could

Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God. - Proverbs 14:31, NIV

Rent is extremely expensive compared to the average salary in UK. Also the childcare is ridiculous expensive which doesn't allow mothers to get a job! Come on UK gov you can do much more for your people!

How about giving out free contraception? Child credit is the reason for this poverty.

The First Lady already has 4 kids and she barely looks over 30. Why are these people complaining? The council owes them nothing and if they keep on popping out kids with no father support of course they are gonna be poor

you know this all could be solved if the more poor people had less children why have children u can barely support if not at all?

I watched a documentary about the history of council housing and public assistance in the UK and it’s no wonder. Do people really have a guaranteed roof over their head for life just because they qualified at one point? There were people who’d climbed out of poverty, purchased their own home, and now rent out their council flat at a profit. What a system...

Tories have cut £37 billion from social security benefits system since 2010. Meanwhile the Tories have awarded a two year private test and trace contract that will cost £37 billion.

So why were all the politicians against Marcus Rashford's proposal?

My children, a boy and a girl, are 40 and 36 and when I look at what is classed as child poverty today I realise that my children were brought up in poverty in the 80's. I would have liked more children but I stopped at 2.

Education is the best way out of poverty.

food prices will probably increase as suppliers pass on the cost of red tape from Brexit :(

The £157.50 bbc licence fee is a massive financial burden for those who are struggling , think how much more fruit and veg you could buy with that.

It's heartbreaking gvt should help but people shouldn't have kids if they don't have stable means to support them. It's selfish to bring them into the world and then deprive them of the good life.

no one deserve life in poverty but reality is the more children you have the more likely you will get in financial hardship. No one talks about it. Simply think twice if you actually can support your child. If you have doubts, don't make kids. it can be hard to rise just one kid. imagine how difficult it is if you have three. Governments all over the globe should encourage people not to have kids.

My brother works for a UK food charity. When he began a few years ago it was small, and he put in just a few hours each day. Now he simply cannot work hard enough, and he has complained of complete exhaustion. The situation is terrifying. Why? I have pondered this at length. Part of the reason seems to be that the political structure of the UK is obsolescent, and it fuels polarisation. The first-past-the-post system means that a political party can have a clear majority in the UK Parliament without having the confidence of most voters. There is rarely any need for horse-trading and compromise. A party with a majority can implement strong policies that aid one part of society in the short term, while damaging another. The system encourages infantile jibes, jeering, catcalls, and insults. It is often impossible to accept that the MPs involved hold degrees from the UK's top universities; they sound so damn supercilious, self-satisfied, arrogant, and downright bloody stupid. The politics of the House of Commons has every appearance of being egocentric, and driven by a "winner-takes-all" mentality. Indeed, the desire to be the "king of the castle" often seems to obscure the fact that Parliament exists to help ordinary British citizens. (Yes, it actually does!) People such as Jacob Rees-Mogg often do not seem to comprehend why they are there; the electorate and their pressing needs seem to be an irrelevancy compared with the need to feed the over-inflated ego. The cobwebbed House of Lords is ridiculously archaic. 751 unelected members for 68 million people?! Appearance fees? Food and drink paid for by taxpayers? The US Senate has 100 elected members for a population 5 times as big, and US senators know that being a senator is their job, not just a pastime for which they receive a daily fee greater than the amount received by a poverty-stricken family of 4 to survive for a week! Being granted political power on the basis of "blue blood" is not just an affront to everyone else, it is an obscenity. Aristocracy and royalty are obsolescent, fuddy-dud anachronisms that must GO! When interacting online I am always struck by the number of UK citizens who appear to be very badly educated and very badly informed. (I attended local government schools, by the way.) I have not yet interacted with a Brexiteer who has at least a basic grasp on economics, and one would assume that every school-leaver would know these principles. The extents of illiteracy and innumeracy are shocking. German school-leavers are (on average) streaks ahead of their British counterparts. Many young Germans have much better English than their British counterparts. They are also much more positive people, with much greater social maturity, and possess the kind of level-headed self-confidence that somany British youngsters lack. Indeed, Brexit itself can be seen to be a manifestation of a deep-seated lack of self-confidence: an inability to engage with strangers to sort out mutual issues to the benefit of all, in favour of withdrawing from the world and turning inwards, like a desperately shy and gauche teenager. Apart from anything else, I believe the UK's current stagnant political system has fed nationalism in Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, where people have not seen any closure of the social gulf engendered by the system. The failure of the UK to wake up, grow up, and sweep away its appallingly archaic politico-socio-economic system will lead to the end of the UK. WAKE UP!

A growing numbers of single parenting in the UK is a result of core concept of family system of a Husband and Wife relationship is in constant decline and child paying the price for not having a lawfully committed relationship between their parents.

Where are the father's of the four children in the family ? Someone has to take care of the children one makes.

The UK is a poor country pretending to be rich

It is a disgrace when you don't see or hear of the dad's helping to provide for these poor children.

Half of these kids. Live off the cash in hand economy. So many I know of and some are just unfortunate.

THANKS SO MUCH MUM AND DAD

After paying towards her rent that Mother of four had £600 a month to pay bills, buy children's clothes, and buy food but couldn't manage! She needs financially educating I'm afraid. She needs to learn what to shop for to make healthy meals, go in charity shops to buy clothes and cut down on bills as much as possible. Bet she's got a mobile phone with decent data on it and probably some form of paid TV channels etc I could easily manage on that much a month and have four well dressed, healthy children.

Long Live the Queen! REALLY? the crown on her head would provide food and decent shelter for an entire community for a decade...

I feel those pain We are all In the same boat

If you can’t feed your self don’t have a baby

So kind of you! Such a good woman!

The sheer stupidity of seeing a country with a shortage of young people allowing its extremely valuable children to fall into extreme poverty. Are they TRYING to depress their dangerously low birth rate?

Sitting there with the latest adidas wear and expensive nike pumps, colored hair. Go to the Philippines and see what real poverty looks like. You're lucky to be in England.

Why have so many children if you can’t afford them ?

Four kids and a lone parent? What is the father contributing to feed and clothe his children?

Nobody likes to take individual responsibility, just blame the government

It's simple really, when poor people have kids the kids are poor too.

You could give some people £500 a week and they still would waste it and have none left at the end of the week

If you can't afford children and live in a high poverty area then DON'T HAVE THEM!!!! Why have children if you are poor? Breeding irresponsibly breeds poverty! Poor, irresponsible and dysfunctional parents perpetuate the cycle of poverty. These selfish parents bring unfortunate and innocent children into a cold world (and children have needs such as warmth, food and shelter) but instead these awful parents dump their problems onto their the children by bringing them into their parent's shitheap of an existence. If only childbearing received the same level of scrutiny as getting a mortgage then maybe there'd be fewer children in need?

So let's stop sending aid abroad and start looking after our own poor people at home

The government let this happen to Britain

My name is Indira from baktinusa vocation school. I really feel sorry for children in the UK, they cannot feel the joy of childhood like children in other countries. I hope that in the future there will be a bright spot for them and they will be the next generation of their nation and will not feel poverty again.

If people in the developed countries are facing these hardships, can't imagine the scene in poor countries.

G-d bless these parents! We have been largely a one-parent icome family since pandemic. Being a registered nurse means that I'm very blessed with my income and we are by and far very fortunate compared to so many families living at or below poverty. It still doesn't make it easy for us but it is so important to reach out to others-especially our elderly!

alot of these situations could have been avoided with better choices. IMO one should avoid at all costs to be single parent for 1 child, how does 1 end up multiple children without having a partner to support.

1. The root cause of child poverty is when people have children they cannot afford. 2. There are now record job vacancies. We need to get the work-shy off benefits and into work. Workfare is better than welfare.

" i have one meal a day, with 3 kids" maybe dont pump out kids on benefits in first place?

How is she a lone parent with a 7 month old baby?

The way royalists talk about how amazing the royal family is for England, you'd think it would be an absolute utopia. But it's not.

Why you complaining about money when you have made the decision to have 4 kids? Can we get child services on people who have children with no means/intentions of supporting them.

Where are all the fathers of these children in poverty?

Why do people have so many children if they can't afford them. One after the other !! If they stop at 3 or 4 kids, they can also stop at 1 or 2. Never heard of birth control ?

Raise the minimum wage and provide accessible childcare

The reasons why the government limited children tax credit to two children unfortunately those in work have to suffer.

If you think it’s difficult to bring up children in poverty， have pressure on life, why did you give so many births? 4 small children with a couple.....its hard and difficult for any people in any country!!!! Take your responsibility and control birth!!!!

People take responsibility of their own actions by not having kids if they can't afford them ?

One meal a day? Then how is she overweight?

2020 to 2030 big time change coming

The uk is the 3rd richest country in world yet this is still going on, unacceptable. The rich is getting richer but the poor getting poorer. Theres no balance.

the volunteers are not only heroes..they are living angels!

I’m a single parent so I understand the struggle but I have to ask as I’m confused why do these people have so many children when they clearly can’t afford them . I find that sad

Anyone remember waiting to have children until you could afford to provide for them?

And the gov would not give a interview, SHOCKING

Why are so many of these parents single mothers?

Same thing that’s happened here in Cyprus very sad! I myself had to go to Red Cross last year for help and I’m not working now

its because having children without proper plan and stable income. its because of having children when you cant even support yourself properly. If you want children then work hard from young age....just dont have them if you cant afford it like i did.....

Not trying to be insensitive and I understand this doesn't help these children now, but why are these parents so irresponsible. If you don't have much money why are you having children at all if you can't support them?

Unichief had to send support in the Uk for the first time in 70 years

Awful situation for people. My heart goes out to them x

I grew up in the 1950s. My parents divorced and my mother had a double hip replacement. We lived on ten shillings per week (50p), although my mother did inherit her mother's small terraced house and so she did not have rent to pay.

Be a single female severely sick & disabled parent you’re just treated with contempt by local authorities and benefit agencies.. it’s dreadful so many poor children suffering and their parent/s suffering too :(

People just need to stop having kids if they can’t afford them... simple. People don’t want to work