Mayor and teacher clash over child poverty in Middlesbrough

Labour councillor Alma Hellaoui grilled Middlesbrough Mayor Andy Preston about what was being done to help the “four in 10” youngsters living in poverty in the town at a meeting on Wednesday. 

Figures from the North East Child Poverty Commission (NECPC) show Middlesbrough 39.4 per cent of children were living in poverty in 2019/20 – a measure derived from the number of children living in families with less than 60 per cent of the median UK household income. 

This was up from 29.2 per cent in 2014/15.

Cllr Hellaoui called on the figures at Middlesbrough Town Hall this week – telling the chamber she believed the statistics had got “significantly worse” since the pandemic.

The member for Newport said the rise of child poverty in Middlesbrough had been the highest in the country – and criticised the government’s “levelling up” plan. 

Cllr Hellaoui asked: “What current action is taking place? 

“And which future policies in Middlesbrough relate to this issue?

“What can we do as a council to monitor improvements? I recognise our financially strained resources.”

This week saw the 12 children’s services directors in the North-East raise their concerns about poverty, deprivation, and social care in the region as part of calls for an overhaul of the system. 

The report stated exceptional levels of poverty in the North-East were driving dramatic rises in child protection intervention and the number of children in care. 

“The cost of this cannot be afforded,” it added.

“Exacerbated by reductions in government funding, spending on early help has reduced at a time when it has been most needed. 

“This vicious cycle can only be broken by different ways of working, backed up by adequate investment.”

Middlesbrough has been hit hard by austerity measures over the past decade. 

Council chief executive Tony Parkinson told this week’s overview and scrutiny board how the amount the council spent on children’s social care had sky-rocketed in the past decade. 

He added: “The greatest risk to our financial resilience is children’s services – that’s not a criticism of the service, it’s a reflection of the circumstances of the town.

“We’ve seen the percentage of our budget spent on children’s services rise from 13 per cent to 40 per cent.”

In response to Cllr Hellaoui, Mr Preston said child poverty was an “extremely complex problem” – believing some people had “a bit of knowledge” but not enough to understand how complex it was.

He claimed the North-East and Middlesbrough were performing worse than other places because the population was not increasing as quickly as elsewhere.

The independent mayor added: “The people who’ve been leaving Middlesbrough are not the poorest people – they’re those who are ambitious, who want the right kind of house, and have the ability financially to move.

“That leaves those who are struggling left behind.”

Mr Preston also claimed Middlesbrough’s bad poverty statistics were due to the “shocking way the town had been managed” with what he called the “wrong housing, wrong planning, wrong investment and the wrong people in charge”.

He believed the town needed to attract new people into town to create jobs and people who showed the “right behaviour” and “set good standards”. 

“At the same time, we need to look after the people who are desperate and need help,” the mayor added.

Hunger

Money, culture, education, ambition and role models were listed by the mayor as helping poverty – and he told the chamber Middlesbrough had “missed all of those”. 

He also claimed a “lack of political nouse”, “business nouse” and “honesty about Middlesbrough’s problems” – alongside a lack of money – had conspired to put the town where it was over the past 40 to 50 years. 

Mr Preston said he was proud the town’s top team was committed to making sure nobody in Middlesbrough “ever needs to go hungry”.

He added: “If you need emergency food, we’ll get it to you.

“We’re not a soft touch – we won’t let people who continue to decide to spend it on booze or drugs to keep coming back but we will make sure nobody needs to go (hungry).”

He also pointed to efforts to build high quality housing as well as efforts to turn around Middlesbrough’s troubled children’s services department as helping to tackle poverty.

However, he also warned the efforts would “take years”. 

More stark statistics

Department for Education figures released in June showed 27.5 per cent of children in the North-east are now eligible for free school meals – up from 23.5 per cent last year, and 21 per cent in 2018/19. 

A Stockton Council report stated all 12 local authority areas in the North-east were included in the 20 which saw the biggest increases in poverty levels between 2014/15 and 2018/19. 

The neighbouring borough has drawn up a 10 year framework to try and address the stark inequalities within its own borders. 

Office for National Statistics figures show men in the Northern Parishes ward, covering Wynyard, have an average life expectancy of 88.9.

However, those living in the neighbouring Hardwick ward have a life expectancy of just 73.4.

Meanwhile, the difference in how long men can expect to lead a “healthy life” in Stockton town centre and the Northern Parishes is 21 years.

Council leader Bob Cook said: “Some members of our community start less well, have more difficult lives and die earlier than others purely because of where they live, or the circumstances into which they are born. 

“Tackling inequalities has long been a key priority for this council. 

“What this strategy does, for the first time, is map out a clear plan for action to do all we can to reduce unfair differences. 

“It will not be easy, and that is why we have set out a ten year commitment. 

“It will also require the involvement of a wide range of partners across the borough including a key role for the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.”

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