Sheffield Lib Dems urge government to boost support for struggling families as thousands of children live in poverty

Around one in four Sheffield people live in poverty and data published by the Department for Work and Pensions showed 28,029 children aged under 16 were living in families with low incomes in 2020-21.

As the cost of living crisis adds pressure to people’s finances, councillors Shaffaq Mohammed and Barbara Masters tabled a motion calling for more action on child poverty at a full council meeting next Wednesday, September 6.

They also raised concern that some living in poverty were not eligible for support such as free school meals and benefits.

“We note the positive work the council has undertaken on the cost of living crisis…however there is only so much local authorities can do in the absence of government support,” they said.

They suggested “simple, relatively low-cost” interventions for the government including removing the two-child benefit cap – which they estimated to cost £1.4 billion – and universalising free school meals in primary schools – which they estimated to cost £1 billion.

They urged the council’s chief executive Kate Josephs to write to the government with their demands, stressing the importance of alleviating child poverty.

Their demands are: abolish the two-child cap on benefits, expand free school meals to every child in primary school and every secondary school child whose family receives Universal Credit, and increase funding for free school meals in line with inflation and backdated to match the real terms level of funding provided in 2014-15.