Poverty

Poverty is the subject of the Blog Action Day - today, October 15th. I had intended to make some comment about World poverty. That was before I discovered that 3.9 million children - 1 in 3 of the UK's children - were living in poverty. This is one of the highest rates in the industrialised world. It is a shocking figure given the wealth of our nation. So perhaps, in this case we need to think about charity beginning at home.

Poverty can have a profound impact on the child, their family, and the rest of society. It often sets in motion a deepening spiral of social exclusion, creating problems in education, employment, mental and physical health and social interaction.

But child poverty in the UK is not inevitable. Progress has been made and this year provides us all with our last opportunity to ensure the Government keep their promise to the millions of children experiencing poverty in the UK today.

One contribution you could make today is to visit the End Child Poverty website and ask the government to keep its promise to tackle the issue.