It is not a novel concept that children in poverty and crisis do not have equal access to education. And it will be of little surprise to the teaching profession to hear about the complex interconnected issues within the home that mean that those on the lowest incomes have challenges to overcome long before they sit down at a school desk and complete a productive day of learning.

So perhaps it will also be of no surprise that the Covid-19 crisis has exacerbated these problems. An increase in pressure on one or more of the challenges children face in turn increases the pressure in other areas, and the crisis has done this on a number of fronts all at once. 

The extent of these problems is clearly laid out clearly in our State of Child Poverty report. It describes issues with the access to basics such as food; difficulties in the home, with increases in problems for both parental and children’s mental health; difficulties in peer relationships, and so on. 

Dealing with the accumulation of issues

Many children - whatever the efforts of their teachers - will have had little or no education for six months by the time they return in September. They will have faced clear challenges with homeschooling in difficult home environments, added to by the lack of IT equipment and internet access.

It will be schools who will be the first to identify and deal with this accumulation of issues when children do finally fully return back through the school gates. 

All children will have to adjust back into the routine of school. But, for those described in our report, the challenges of returning from isolated, chaotic and possibly even abusive home environments are going to create huge pressures on teaching staff and wider school communities.

Buttle UK is calling for a new government strategy, to address the issues that the crisis has now made so much more apparent. As the UK attempts recovery from the crisis, there are going to be some very big challenges facing the most vulnerable sectors in our society.

The crisis has demonstrated the huge value of our public services, and how communities are able to come together to support those that are most vulnerable. Harnessing these things is what we would hope to see in any plan for the recovery from the crisis. 

However, children should also be at the heart of plans for the recovery. There has been no dedicated child-poverty strategy for many years now. We, therefore, support the call from the End Child Poverty Coalition for the government to set out a clear and ambitious strategy on child poverty. 

Seeing problems before others

While we wait for such a strategy to materialise, Buttle UK has funds available to support children and their families now. We have built a £5m fund, and though this is clearly not enough to meet all needs, it is there to support as many children as we can and make things a little easier if there is a second wave of the virus. 

Our Chances for Children grants, of up to £2,000, are designed to meet the specific needs of children, and go directly to the families that need them. They can pay for a range of items and cover a range of costs. These could include a combination of household essentials, a child’s bed, a laptop or internet access. Depending on the easing of lockdown restrictions, they could also include extracurricular activities, therapy or extra tuition.

This is a relatively small financial intervention, but extensive evaluation has demonstrated its value in building safe and nurturing environments, which better meet learning and development needs, as well as promoting wellbeing and helping in building stronger support networks. 

We know that schools often see problems before others. We already receive applications for grants from many schools, often from family and parent-liaison staff, who understand the family situation and may have visited the home. 

We would love to hear from more schools, so if you believe that you have families who need Buttle UK’s support then you can find out more about making an application here.  

However, Buttle UK is not the only grant provider for children and families in need. You can search by postcode for other support here. 

Joseph Howes is CEO of Buttle UK