CYP Now - Tackle child poverty to improve outcomes for children, youth charity leaders urge

Tackling child poverty is key to improving outcomes for vulnerable young people and must be a priority for the next government, leaders of youth organisations have said.

High quality free school meals for all children should be offered as part of plans to eradicate child poverty, experts say. Picture: Adobe Stock

During a panel discussion on “The Crisis Facing Children and Young People”, held as part of Sounddelivery Media’s Festival of Learning, leaders of organisations aimed at supporting the wellbeing of young people and their families were asked what they would say if they were given “five minutes with the next Prime Minister”.

Steve Arnott, founder and chief executive of Beats Bus in Hull, which works to support disadvantaged young people through music, said he would urge the leader of the next government to prioritise “tackling the wealth imbalance and eradicating poverty”.

“That will ultimately stop young people going to prison because growing up when you have nothing, sometimes you'll do anything to have something. You can turn down the wrong path, you can do the wrong stuff to have something that you've never had, and that is because families and young people grow up in poverty,” he added.

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