The NSPCC has warned that families on low incomes in the UK are missing out on vital support as they struggle to access early childhood services.
In a new report with the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), the national children’s charity reveals that families living in poverty experience barriers to accessing early childhood services at every level, which “poses serious risks to the health, wellbeing and safety of little ones.”
The report, Opening Doors: access to early childhood services for families impacted by poverty in the UK, says that services such as maternity, health visiting and integrated services such as children’s centres and family hubs, can be limited, hard to reach, under resourced or unable to support the needs of families experiencing financial hardship.
Charities are now calling on the government to take action to improve access to these local early childhood services for families living in poverty.
Report finds early childhood services under strain
The report sets out findings and recommendations drawn from a combination of research methods, including
- a wide-ranging rapid review of existing evidence
- semi-structured online interviews with 12 early childhood service professionals
- four UK-wide focus groups totalling 30 parents and carers from areas of high deprivation
- an online survey of 2,892 UK parents and carers of children aged 0-4, facilitated by YouGov and commissioned by UNICEF UK.
It states that, in the UK, more than a third of children in families with a child aged under 5 are living in poverty.
This can have a negative impact on a young child’s physical and mental development, but access to high quality early childhood services can significantly reduce inequalities and provide much-needed support for families on low incomes.
However, early childhood service professionals are working under significant pressure, often in unsupportive environments, and dealing with shortages of midwives and health visitors.
The report found that a lack of resources often resulted in a lack of outreach, rushed appointments, and a different professional at each contact, making it difficult to establish relationships and trust, meaning parents often struggled to discuss sensitive issues relating to their financial circumstances.
For parents, a lack of money or resources often meant they struggled to attend services due to transport costs or were unable to follow the advice they were given. Many also struggled to navigate complicated services.
Parents and carers ultimately struggled to open up about financial difficulties out of a fear of being judged and stigmatised.
Key opportunity to improve access to early childhood services
However, the NSPCC and UNICEF UK say the upcoming UK-wide Child Poverty Strategy and the 10 Year Health Plan in England provide the government with a key opportunity to reduce the impact of poverty on babies and young children in the UK.
They want a focus on improving access to local early childhood services and ensuring they are inclusive for families on low incomes.
They are also calling for:
- Investment to rebuild the midwifery and health visiting workforces
- The roll-out of integrated services like family hubs across the UK
One of the authors of the report, Vicky Nevin, Policy Manager at the NSPCC, said:
“Midwives, health visitors and other professionals provide support that can make a real difference for parents who want to do the best for their young children but are struggling with money.
“Worryingly, our research shows that service doors are often closed, hard to reach, or out of touch with the needs of families impacted by poverty. This poses serious risks to the health, wellbeing and safety of little ones.
“Early childhood services should be top of the agenda when the Child Poverty Taskforce next meets this December. It is vital for the government to rebuild and reform services that provide quality support to all babies, young children and their families.”
Meanwhile, UNICEF UK’s Senior Policy Advisor and co-author of the report, Rebecca Jacques, commented that early childhood services were a “lifeline” for families, offering “the very best start,” in life.
She added:
“But our research shows that parents living on low incomes face barriers at every turn when trying to access these services. Without high-quality support, we risk too many babies and young children falling behind.
“It is crucial that the UK Government’s upcoming child poverty and health strategies prioritise early childhood services, so that they can fulfill their role in mitigating the impacts of poverty to make sure every young child has the best chance of a happy and healthy life.”
Training to support children and young families
First Response Training (FRT) is a leading, national training provider delivering a wide and diverse range of training courses. They can provide training in the fields of health and safety, first aid, fire safety, food safety, safeguarding, mental health, health and social care and other specialist subjects.
FRT work with hundreds of early years services, schools and other childcare and support groups across the UK, providing them with high quality training to meet EYFS and Ofsted guidelines.
Their training courses for early years include Paediatric First Aid, Safeguarding Children and Youth Mental Health First Aid. They also deliver courses in topics such as Understanding Mental Health and Anxiety Awareness.
A trainer from FRT says:
“The early years are an incredibly important time, building the foundation for a child’s future. It’s important that parents, babies and children have appropriate support during these years to ensure that every child gets the best start possible.
“We know from the many organisations that we work with, that those who provide frontline care and support for babies, children and young people are committed to keeping them safe and do their utmost to achieve this. Often, though, they face many challenges and significant pressures.
“It’s vital that anyone who works with children and young people completes a range of appropriate training programmes to better enable them to support parents, carers and children and to know the correct action to take if they suspect a child is at risk.”
For more information about the training that FRT can provide, please call them today on freephone 0800 310 2300 or send an e-mail to info@firstresponsetraining.com.