Daily roundup: Benefit cuts, Whitehall wrangling over childcare, and snow hits schools across the UK

A government minister has revealed that its policy to raise benefits by one per cent next year - below the rate of inflation- will push 200,000 more children into poverty. In an answer to a parliamentary question, work and pensions minister Esther McVey estimated that “uprating” would result in “around an extra 200,000 children being deemed by this measure to be in relative income poverty”. Fiona Weir, chief executive of Gingerbread, said: “The government can no longer ignore who will be affected by this real-term cut to benefits. The government must urgently review the bill in light of the real impact it will have on families and children.”

The Treasury and the Department for Education are at loggerheads over the coalition’s childcare policy, it has been claimed. According to the Independent, the Treasury is attempting to limit plans to give tax breaks and state-funded childcare to working families. The proposals are intended to help reduce the impact of the government’s decision to withdraw child benefit from those earning more than £60,000 a year. David Cameron, George Osborne, Nick Clegg and Danny Alexander are reported to have met twice in an attempt to ease tensions between the departments.

Snow has hit, forcing more than 2,000 schools to close across the UK, according to the BBC. Wales is likely to be particularly badly affected by the cold snap, leading to heightened fears about the high numbers of children living in poverty. Head of Save the Children in Wales, Mary Powell-Chandler, said: “In some areas of Wales, more than fifty per cent of children are growing up in poverty. As this latest cold snap bites and temperatures plummet, many won’t have the money to heat their homes adequately.” Meanwhile, a nationwide Muslim youth group has pledged to help ease any disruption caused by the weather. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, have been turning their hands to snow clearance and helping vulnerable neighbours since 2010. 

Scotland Yard has launched a full investigation into allegations that Conservative politicians were part of a paedophile ring in the 1980s, the Independent reports. The investigation is centered around alleged abuse that took place at a guest house in Barnes, south west London. Residents of a nearby care home claim they were sexually assaulted by a number of prominent people, who used their connections to escape justice. The investigation began as a result of information supplied by Labour MP Tom Watson. 

A children’s hospice in South Yorkshire has installed a cinema room with help from the charity Together for Short Lives, according to local press reports. The specially designed room, at Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice in North Anston, cost around £13,000 to install and will mean that children with a variety of complex needs, in wheelchairs and beds will be able to enjoy watching films comfortably and together. Services and products were donated by local businesses.

The media has been accused of presenting an unbalanced view of children’s homes. In a blog in the Huffington Post, Jonathan Stanley, chief executive of the Independent Children’s Homes Association, argued that the “conventional but inaccurate thinking about children’s homes” must be challenged. He said: “The unremittingly negative image of children's homes just isn't found in real life.” He argued that children’s homes are the right choice for some children, as opposed to adoption or fostering. He said: “Family based options may well be right for many, many young people but not all, and not all of the time.”