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10-07-2008
Do you find it hard to make your money last? Are you having trouble getting the benefits you’re entitled to, or struggling to pay for your gas, electricity or phone?
How does it affect your children? Are you struggling to meet the costs of your children’s school uniforms, trips and PE kits? Do you find it too expensive to celebrate your children’s birthdays or take them out on a trip?
These are the questions being asked by national charity Citizens Advice, which is appealing to hard-pressed local families to share their stories to help end child poverty.
Citizens Advice is running a nationwide campaign across the Citizens Advice service with the aim of making sure the government sticks to its pledge to halve child poverty by 2010.
As part of this it wants families to contribute evidence to a report by sharing their experiences via the charity’s national website www.citizensadvice.org.uk
The information can be recorded anonymously and will feed into the ‘End Child Poverty’ campaign being waged by a coalition of charities including Citizens Advice.
Johan Jensen, Campaigns Officer said:
“The government has promised to halve child poverty by 2010. Citizens Advice will hold them to account to keep their promise, but to do this we need to hear from families willing to share their story. You can tell us in complete confidence, but the information collected nationally will be presented to the government to make sure they know what life is really like for many parents and their children trying to manage day-to-day on very low incomes.”
A report based on the evidence collected online and by Citizens Advice Bureaux around the country will be published at the Citizens Advice annual conference in York in September.
Notes:
To share your story, to see real people tell their stories, or to find out more about how to get involved in our End Child Poverty campaign go to: www.citizensadvice.org.uk/endchildpoverty or pick up a postcard from your nearest CAB.
Notes to editors on Citizens Advice
- The Citizens Advice service is a network of independent charities that helps people resolve their money, legal and other problems by providing information and advice and by influencing policymakers. For more information in England and Wales;
 www.citizensadvice.org.uk
- The advice provided by the Citizens Advice service is free, independent, confidential, and impartial, and available to everyone regardless of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age or nationality.
- Most Citizens Advice service staff are trained volunteers, working at over 3,300 locations across England and Wales.
- Advice and information www.adviceguide.org.uk
- Volunteer hotline 08451 264264 (local rate)
- Citizens Advice Guide to your rights, second edition: January 2008 - over 600 pages of practical, independent CAB advice. An invaluable resource for any bookshelf - available from all good bookshops; price £11.99; ISBN: 9780141034089
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