Forty eight percent of primary school staff believe their pupils have gone without essentials like food, heating and clothing since the start of the school year.
The report out today by the Joseph Rowntree Trust found that on average, primary school staff estimate 48% of their pupils had experienced hardship at some point since the start of the school year
Primary schoo and community healthcare staff estimated 57% of their patients had experienced hardship at some point over the last 12 months.
That is, says the Trust, nine in ten staff say that pupils or patients experiencing hardship has an impact on them as staff, their colleagues or the wider organisation they work for.
While seven in ten say supporting pupils or patients experiencing hardship is a challenge where they work; of those who say hardship is a challenge, two thirds say it makes it harder for them to do their job well.
The findings are stark says the report of
Services are staggering under the weight of hardship and are spending significant resources, time, funding, emotional energy, and in some cases, whole job roles, trying to deal with the consequences of hardship.
It diverts resources and adds to demand and workloads, which has knock-on impacts on pupils, families and patients who are not directly experiencing hardship.
Hunger has become an everyday occurrence and schools are having to respond.
A third of workers say their school provides a food bank, a quarter say they provide other essentials (such as toiletries, energy top-up vouchers, beds and bedding) and nearly 2 in 5 say staff are providing direct support out of their own pocket.
The report concludes that Hardship is making it harder to deliver the core functions of healthcare and education, not just in the most deprived areas but across Britain.
“We need to address this problem at source, with an urgent action plan to tackle hardship. That would ease some of the pressures these services face. No plan to improve our education and health services can be taken seriously without it.”
