Letter: Government is ripping up financial safety net for low-income families

One in four children lives in absolute poverty. In some of the East Midlands, almost every other child is living in poverty.

The Government is ripping up the financial safety net for low-income families and cutting funding for services that support vulnerable families. Families with children in the bottom 10 per cent lost £4,000 every year on average from 2010 to 2019.

Here in Derbyshire, the cash-strapped county council plans to strip nearly £6m from its early help services in order to plug its financial blackhole. A blackhole caused, in large part, by a 40 per cent cut in central government funding for local councils since 2010.

This Government prioritises, instead, expensive tax cuts that disproportionately benefit middle and high earners. It plans to spend a further £65bn on tax cuts in the next five years.

This isn’t just abhorrent, it makes no financial sense. Growing up in poverty affects children throughout their lives, via its effects on long-term health and employment outcomes.

Lifting our children out of poverty must surely be a priority.

There is an election in May to choose a mayor for the new East Midlands Combined County Authority.

We may feel a long way from the hubs of Nottingham and Derby but we too are in the East Midlands. We need to raise our voices so our new mayor understands the challenges that are specific to our area. I would suggest that handing control of this new authority to the same people who prioritise tax cuts over child poverty is perhaps not a sensible move.

A Girolami

Buxton