Salford charity joins child poverty action group amid cost of living crisis

Caritas Salford has joined a group supporting children suffering from poverty, as part of ongoing work tackling the cost of living crisis.

The religious charity, based in the dioceses of Salford and Shrewsbury, joined the national End Child Poverty Coalition.

The coalition began after the cost of living crisis has seen an increase in demand for family support services.

Caritas Salford joined the coalition to increase awareness of poverty in the local community, and encourage more people to help those in need.

Ben Gilchrist, CEO of Caritas Shrewsbury, said: “Our organisations work closely with families, young people, children and individuals and we see first-hand the huge impact poverty has on them.  We’ve been calling for change for many years, and taking tangible action to support people – we want to work alongside families to help them transform their own lives with dignity. 

“Being part of the End Child Poverty Coalition means we’re able to continue doing that, whilst being part of a much larger group – our voice can be heard alongside others who are just as passionate about driving forward real change, and hopefully we can have a greater impact together too.” 

The End Child Poverty Coalition is an alliance of around 80 organisations from civic society, including children’s charities, child welfare organisations, social justice groups, faith groups, trade unions and others – all united in a vision of a UK free of child poverty. 

Patrick O’Dowd, director of Caritas Salford, said: “With the cost-of-living crisis continuing to hit communities across our area – and indeed the UK – unbelievably hard, it’s more important than ever that action is taken.   

“We are seeing every day the huge impact that poverty is having on children, whether that’s the family who have to choose whether to have a meal or heat their home; or the parent who isn’t able to buy shampoo or soap for their child to wash with.  This simply shouldn’t be happening in 2023 – or ever – and every one of us has a responsibility to both call for immediate change and take action to support people in our communities ourselves too. 

“We’re proud to have joined the End Child Poverty Coalition and are looking forward to campaigning alongside other organisations across the UK to achieve real change together.”