Skipping meals and restricting nappies – families resorting to rations

This week we’ve revealed the desperate financial choices families are being forced to make to ensure their children’s basic needs are met.

A survey of the families we support paints a stark picture, with nearly half of parents (45%) saying they’re skipping meals so their children can eat and 1 in 3 (34%) keeping the heating off to save on expensive energy bills. Other response included:

• One quarter (26%) rationing nappies
• One in ten (9%) watering down formula
• Two thirds (66%) prioritising housing costs over buying essential items like clothing and toys
• Over half (55%) of the parents supported had a ‘low or uncertain wage’.

A mum we have supported told us: “We manage just about but it’s really difficult. We shop at the cheapest shop we can and use food banks. Things like nappies are so expensive, so I’ll try and stretch them out to ten nappies every three days which is hard with a young baby.”

“No parent should have to decide between feeding their child, heating their home or diluting formula to make it go further, yet, for too many families, these choices are a daily reality.” said our CEO, Sophie.

“In a climate of budget cuts, we fear the government’s new Child Poverty Strategy won’t go far enough and urge ministers to put children first. Poverty robs children of their childhood and worsens inequality. The government must take the urgent, decisive action that is needed now.”

London currently has the highest child poverty rate in England, with 700,000 growing up in hardship.

This week we launched our 2024 Impact Report with data on how many families and children we’ve supported. Over 12 months we provided essentials to over 7,325 families. This included:

• 1,551 safe places for children and babies to sleep like cots and Moses baskets
• 2,218 buggies, slings, scooters, and buggy boards
• 6,752 coats and 14,163 pairs of shoes
• 549 highchairs and 886 infant baths
• 17,499 books

A health professional who regularly refers families to us said: “Little Village provides breathing space for families in crisis. When parents know their child will have warm clothes and essential items, they can focus on other crucial needs like paying for heating or food.”

Read our Impact Report.