UK Lags Behind In Child-Parent Wellbeing, Says Unicef

Children and parents in two contrasting European countries, Sweden and Spain, have significantly higher levels of wellbeing than those in a third, the United Kingdom, according to a survey and research by Unicef, the United Nations Children’s Fund.


















The survey examined attitudes towards materialism and inequality and found that parents and children had markedly different attitudes towards material possessions.

It was carried out among some 250 children, ranging in age from eight to 13, from all social backgrounds in the three countries. The findings were further discussed in three steering groups, one each in England, Spain and Sweden, of 14-year-olds. Twenty four families in the three countries were also observed and filmed.

“The message from them all was simple, clear and unanimous,” according to the Unicef report, “their wellbeing centres on time with a happy, stable family, having good friends and plenty of things to do, especially outdoors.”

Given the links, in terms of history, cultural and social policy thinking, between Ireland and the UK, the survey is likely to be of interest in Ireland, in particular to social workers, childcare specialists and policy analysts.

“Family life in the three countries was strikingly different,” says the report. It identified pressure on parental time in the UK, linked to long hours and both parents working outside the home, as having an impact on children, with parents trying to “make up” by buying things for their children.

“In the UK homes, we found parents struggling to give children the time they clearly want to spend with them whilst in Spain and Sweden family time appeared to be woven into the fabric of everyday life. We also noticed that the roles played by mothers, fathers and children within the family and the rules which governed family life were much more clearly defined in Spain and Sweden than in the UK.

“Moreover by the time many British children had reached secondary school, their participation in active and creative pursuits – pursuits that children said made them happy – had in fact dwindled, whilst this occurred less in other countries . . .

“Behind the statistics, we found British families struggling, pushed to find the time their children want, something exacerbated by the uncertainty about the rules and roles operating within the family household. And we found less participation in outdoor and creative activities amongst older and more deprived children.”

On materialism, the survey found that British children and parents both had problems.

For the majority of eight- to 13-year-olds in all three countries, “new toys, fashion items and gadgets were not central to their wellbeing”.

“Rather than wanting to acquire things for their own sake, material objects and consumer goods tended to fulfil a range of purposes in children’s lives: utilitarian, symbolic and social,” says the report.

“However, whilst most children agreed that family time is more important than consumer goods, we observed within UK homes a compulsion on the part of some parents to continually buy new things both for themselves and their children . . .

“We also noticed that UK parents were often buying their children status brands believing that they were protecting them from the kind of bullying they experienced in their own childhood.

“This compulsive acquisition and protective, symbolic brand purchase was largely absent in Spain and Sweden where parents were clearly under much less pressure to consume and displayed greater resilience.”

On inequality, in the UK this tended to be defined in terms of money and material possessions.

“Whilst the links between brands and inequality created tensions and anxieties for children in all three countries to some extent, these feelings were only shared by UK parents. Swedish and Spanish parents seemed not to belong to a “consumer generation” in the same way.

“Deprivation for Swedish parents was understood as living in an area where personal safety was threatened, whilst for Spanish mothers not being able to spend time with your children was seen to confer disadvantage relative to others.

“In the UK, inequality was also seen in access to outdoor, sporting and creative activities, with poorer children spending more sedentary time in front of screens whilst the more affluent had access to a wide range of sports and other pursuits.”

Children’s Well-being in the UK, Sweden and Spain: the Role of Inequality and Materialism (Unicef; June 2011) is a qualitative study and may be read online in full at unicef.org.uk/Latest/News/

Number Of Pensioners In Poverty Rises For First Time In Decade

The number of pensioners living in poverty has risen for the first time in a decade, new figures show.











Official statistics show that 200,000 more elderly people were classed as poor in 2006-7 than the previous year, leaving almost one in three in poverty.

It comes amid record food, fuel and council bills, which are rising at a faster rate than pensions and leaving increasing numbers struggling to cope.

The figures also showed that the number of poor children has risen for the second year running by 100,000, with a third now living below the poverty line.

Campaigners said it was a "moral disgrace" that so many people are unable to make ends meet in one of the world's richest countries, and called on the Government to make sure the poorest pensioners receive the benefits they deserve.

Gordon Lishman, director-general of Age Concern, said: "It is a national disgrace that pensioner poverty levels have begun to rise.

"Older people have been hit particularly hard as living costs have gone through the roof - half of those affected by fuel poverty alone are pensioners."

Mervyn Kohler, special adviser for Help the Aged, added: "When older people live on a fixed income it is virtually impossible for them to pull themselves out of poverty.

"Pensioners often have to cut back on essential household items just to survive. This is a disgrace."

A household is deemed to be below the poverty line if its income is less than 60 per cent of the national median. For the latest figures, this means that a couple with no children who earn less than £226 a week are classed as poor.

When Labour came to power in 1997, there were 2.9 million poor pensioners after rent and mortgage costs are accounted for.

This figure which had been reduced to 1.8 million last year but which now stands at 2.1 million.

When looked at before housing costs are taken into account, the number of poor pensioners is the same now (2.5 million) as it was when Labour came to power and is higher than it was in the mid-1990s.

There were 4.2 million children classed as poor in 1997. By 2005, after a decade of pledges and new benefits systems intended to cut poverty, the number of poor children had been cut to 3.6 million.

But last year the figure rose by 100,000, and this year it has risen again. It is now at the same level as it was five years ago.

In 1999 Labour pledged to halve poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020.

Ministers admitted the numbers published by the Department for Work and Pensions were "disappointing" but insisted they would drop next year once increases in benefits announced in last year's Budget take effect.

Stephen Timms, the Employment and Welfare Reform Minister, said: "We are committed to tackling poverty and providing opportunity for all and these figures confer with the very substantial progress over the last decade to large numbers of pensioners and children lifted out of poverty in relative and absolute terms.

"But we have heard that over the last year or two we have on some levels slipped back."

It was also claimed that the number of poor pensioners may have increased because the impact of a one-off £200 payment to help with council tax bills made in 2005 had now ended.

The Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Chris Grayling, said: "These figures are proof, if ever proof was needed, that Gordon Brown and his Government have quite simply run out of steam and run out of ideas."