Struggling families urged to tell their stories

Families that are struggling to meet their everyday living costs are being urged to tell their story as part of an effort to highlight the extent of child poverty in the UK.

The government has pledged to reduce child poverty by half by 2010 and Citizens Advice is keen to provide evidence of the financial problems people are facing.

Millions of British parents have debt management issues to deal with and being in the red can make it tough to find money for PE kits and school uniforms.

Citizens Advice wants to hear the difficulties parents and their children are facing as a result of being financially over-stretched as part of its ongoing End Child Poverty initiative.

“The information collected nationally will be presented to the government to make sure they know what life is really like for many parents and their children,” said Johan Jensen, campaigns officer at Citizens Advice.

A recent survey carried out by the charity found that a majority of people aged between 16 and 24 had been urged to take on debt they did not want or could not afford.

By Frank Charlton