Children 'pay price' for austerity

A generation of youngsters are "paying the price" for the Government's austerity measures, the Children's Commissioner for England has warned.

Maggie Atkinson said the poorest families were being hit by welfare cuts, but children were also affected by library closures and reductions in spending on leisure facilities.

In an interview with Total Politics magazine the commissioner said local government cuts had also hit after-school and holiday clubs for children.

She said: "There are children now who are paying the price in England, not only for the reduction in welfare spending, but in libraries, in leisure facilities, in early intervention, in after-school clubs or holiday clubs.

"All of those things have been under such severe pressure in local government that many of them have stopped doing them."