How the coronavirus pandemic impacted the poorest children in Mansfield and Ashfield

A report from several charities said children are being failed in "dual crises of poverty and mental health", adding poverty is a "critical risk factor" that has surged in recent years.

Latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions show a record number of children across the UK lived in households earning less than 60 per cent of the median income in 2022-23.

Some 2.5 million children now live in relative low-income households before housing costs, up from 2.3 million in 2018-19, before the coronavirus pandemic.

This includes 5,672 children in Mansfield, equivalent to 27.6 per cent of under-18s in the area – up from 18.4 per cent in 2018-19 and 6,667 children in Ashfield, equivalent to 28.3 per cent of under-18s in the area – up from 17.6 per cent in 2018-19.

Meanwhile, further figures from the Office for National Statistics show 88,313 children in the East Midlands lived in a long-term workless household in 2022, equivalent to 8.9 per cent of young people.

The report, from the Centre for Mental Health, Save the Children UK and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition, called on Labour to scrap the two-child benefit cap, which restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.

Several Labour MPs have criticised the cap, calling for it to be scrapped, but Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has resisted pressure to do so.

Rosie Duffield described the limit as a "heinous piece of legislation", while John McDonnell called the policy an "attack on the poorest" and said his party should plan to abolish it within weeks.

But Sir Keir said there is no "silver bullet" and there was a "complicated set of factors" including pay, benefits, work, housing, education and health at play.

Priya Edwards, policy and advocacy adviser at Save the Children UK, said: "A childhood blighted by poverty and poor mental health leads to dreadful outcomes for young people that sadly impacts them for the rest of their life.

"Families deserve better than constant anxiety about making ends meet."

Meanwhile, separate figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government show a record number of homeless children across England were living in temporary accommodation as of the end of March.

The number of children housed in temporary accommodation such as hotels and bed and breakfasts has risen by 17 per cent since 2020, surpassing 150,000 and reaching the highest figure since records began in 2004.

This includes 33 in Mansfield and 67 in Ashfield.

The areas with the highest rates of children living in temporary accommodation are mostly in London, with some areas seeing more one in 20 children living in short-term housing.

Labour described the homelessness crisis as a "national scandal", while Big Issue founder and crossbench peer Lord Bird, who has spoken out about his experience of growing up in poverty, described the latest figures as "appalling".

He warned "another winter looms and there’s little being done to turn this terrible tide".

The figures also show 35 households with children in Mansfield and 54 households with children in Ashfield were assessed as needing a prevention duty in the three months to March, with a further 20 assessed as needing a relief duty.

A prevention duty must be issued if the household has been threatened with homelessness and is eligible for local council support, while a relief duty is needed when the applicant is already homeless.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: "This Government inherited a housing crisis which has left families stuck living in temporary accommodation, and we know this is having a knock-on effect of increasing pressure on council finances.

"We have laid out clear plans in the short and long-term about how we will deliver our target of 1.5 million homes.

"We will prevent homelessness before it occurs by banning Section 21 evictions, and deliver the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.

"We will also give councils more stability through multi-year funding settlements."