Recent articles from students

Poverty – What has changed during the Coronavirus outbreak for some children in the UK and why?

This year, almost a fifth of households in the UK have struggled to pay their TV, Internet and phone bills, possibly due to the pressure and loss of jobs that has come with the ongoing pandemic. Some resorting to cutting their food and clothing spending to make enough to make payments, a study conducted by telecom company, Ofcom finds. It says that 4.7 million homes in the UK had trouble paying their telecom bills in 2020 – over 1 million of those have cut back on food and clothing to manage paying for these.

                The pandemic and lockdown have forced many people into using things such as broadband and mobile phones much more, since they moved to home working and schooling when lockdown began. Ofcom’s network and communications group director has said ‘it’s important that affordable options are available so everyone can stay connected,’

                The nation’s biggest pay–tv, mobile, and telecom companies have tried to provide support for people by offering low–cost packages for people who are on benefits. However, Ofcom do not believe that they are doing enough for those with financial issues.

                But how does this impact children? In lockdown, when children have been schooled using online learning, many have not been able to access the lessons provided by teachers, due to the lack of internet and that their families cannot afford to pay for the high costs. This has a serious impact on their education and future learning, giving them an unfair disadvantage due to what situation they are in. Even outside of online learning there is a problem. The worries that they may have at home can affect them in many ways, including their school life. Again, this has the same impact on their futures and all because of their situation which they cannot control. 

                Another drastic change in the UK’s poverty situation is that the company UNICEF, that supports children in third world countries from hunger and disease, has had to provide food for children in the UK for the first time. Before the pandemic, the UK had the fifth largest economy in the world despite it being the 80^th largest country. This really demonstrates the strain of the Coronavirus, and a whole manner of other issues that have occurred in this year, not only on the Government, but also on the people that live here in the UK.

By Evelyn Acharya.