Covid: Single mum eats one meal a day so her children can have three
Shannon Dakin finds feeding her family a daily struggle.
She has two young sons, and her teenage brother who has autism also lives with them.
She lost her job as an apprentice nursery worker at the start of lockdown, and, although she receives Universal Credit, now often has to go without meals herself, so the rest of her family can eat.
She has £30-£35 a week to spend on food, and over the winter was forced to turn to relatives and charities for some help with food, energy bills, and the children's clothes.
She balances the budget by preparing simple main meals like noodle sandwiches, which will fill them up.
Child poverty has dramatically risen since the start of the pandemic.
The Government says it's "consistently taken action" over the last twelve months to support the lowest-paid families - spending billions on job safeguarding and welfare. Over the winter, there were £45 million in grants given out to the Midlands. Families will also get financial help during the school holidays.
Academics at Loughborough University believe the divisions in society revealed by the pandemic mean there could be a change in attitudes as lockdown eases.
I think there are many ways in which this pandemic has actually made us reflect more on how we're supporting each other as a society. And this very divisive language of saying is it people who are who are scrounging off the state, and, every time somebody who needs help, being treated with suspicion - I hope we can put that behind us.
- Prof Donald Hirsch, Loughborough University
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