Bevan Foundation highlights impact of pandemic on child poverty

The Bevan Foundation appears on S4C’s Newyddion to discuss the impact of the pandemic on child poverty.

Even prior to Covid 19 poverty was known to have an impact on children’s educational attainment, but there are real concerns that the pandemic could significantly worsen this situation. S4C’s Newyddion programme highlighted last night (17th November) concerns by some teachers that it could take a year for children living in some of Wales’ most deprived communities to catch up with their peers following the disruption bought by the pandemic.

Appearing on behalf of the Bevan Foundation, Steffan Evans raised concerns that not only could the pandemic disproportionately impact children already living in poverty but it could push more children into poverty.

“Nearly 1 in 3 children already live in poverty in Wales. The picture has been improving slightly in recent years but we now expect that to worsen in the near future. With more people losing their jobs, people’s incomes are going to take a hit and we know that welfare system isn’t sufficient with benefits not providing people with enough. The combination of these things is going to squeeze family’s incomes and if you’ve got children you’ve got higher living costs. These factors will therefore have a big impact on children and on child poverty.”

 To watch the item in full, click here. The story was the first to appear.

To read more of the Bevan Foundation’s ideas about getting to grips with this problem then make sure you read some of our ideas about short term and long term solutions.