Dear John,

Nearly one in three children are growing up in poverty today and the numbers will grow without action.

Will you help us create a secure future for children and families? Please donate today.

Since March, my colleagues and I have been hearing cases from the frontline of families falling through the cracks. Parents such as Julia, a mum who fled the horror of domestic violence. Her youngest child is just 10 months old. Before lockdown she was working, and receiving child maintenance from her ex-partner. When lockdown started, her work stopped, and so did the child maintenance payments.

Julia and her children are worse off due to the pandemic, with no additional financial support as she is subject to the ‘benefit cap’. This policy limits the amount of money in benefits any household can receive if there is no one in paid work and means she doesn’t get the £20 a week extra help that others are getting from the government. In a global pandemic, this is indefensible.

75,000 families have been capped since the start of the pandemic and it is undermining efforts to help families on a low income. A social security system that does not protect children from poverty is not fit for purpose. I'm asking you to join us, so together we can fix this. Please donate today.

No one should be left without adequate support, and when life changes – when a child is born, we become unwell or lose our job – we all need a safety net to catch us. It is there for us all and we all have a stake in it.

With a gift from you today, we can and will change the system - creating a secure future for children and families. 

Thank you for all your support in 2020 and with best wishes for the new year, 

Sophie Howes

Senior Policy Officer 

PS If you have already donated, thank you so much - I really appreciate it!