:00:20. > :00:23.Hi, guys, welcome along. This is Newsround, coming to you live just
:00:23. > :00:26.after five with Ore and Leah. Tonight, we're talking about money,
:00:26. > :00:30.and especially kids and their families who are seriously
:00:30. > :00:33.struggling. Coming up in the next eight minutes... Hayley's been to
:00:33. > :00:41.meet two sisters whose family once needed very little, but have since
:00:41. > :00:45.lost a lot. And she's been talking to one girl dealing with money
:00:45. > :00:48.problems, AND looking after her dad. So with the UK suffering with lots
:00:49. > :00:51.of money problems at the moment, we keep hearing about families up and
:00:52. > :00:54.down the country struggling for cash. And according to a group of
:00:54. > :00:57.children's charities, the problem is getting worse. End Child Poverty
:00:57. > :01:02.have today released figures that say one in five children in the UK
:01:02. > :01:05.are living in poverty. And even the Government admits there's a big
:01:05. > :01:09.problem, putting the number of children living below the poverty
:01:09. > :01:12.line at around 3.5 million. To be below the poverty line basically
:01:12. > :01:18.means that aside from the costs of paying for your home, each person
:01:19. > :01:22.in a family has less than �12 to live off per day. So exactly what
:01:22. > :01:25.is it like to live a life where you've got to make every penny
:01:25. > :01:29.count? In the first of her two reports, Hayley meets Jade-Joy and
:01:29. > :01:36.Jasmine, who used to be pretty well off but for whom a lot has changed
:01:36. > :01:40.in the last few years. This is Jade-Joy and Jasmine and their mum
:01:40. > :01:46.and dad. Just a few years ago, this family had two jobs, and enough
:01:47. > :01:51.money for anything they needed. But now, things are different. My dad
:01:51. > :02:01.had to change job, to a less paying job. And my mum could not work
:02:01. > :02:07.because she was poorly. What has been the hardest part? Everybody
:02:07. > :02:12.having a new pencil cases, and I'm sticking with the same one. What is
:02:12. > :02:19.Christmas like? It was OK before, until we didn't have much money,
:02:19. > :02:25.and gradually the presence got smaller and smaller. And it did not
:02:25. > :02:30.seem a very family like. But worse than that, the girls' parents even
:02:30. > :02:35.struggled to get food on the table. That is where food banks coming.
:02:35. > :02:38.Everything here has been donated, and when things get tough, the
:02:38. > :02:48.girls get a delivery of food to keep them going. We get it when we
:02:48. > :02:49.
:02:49. > :02:52.needed. So we are not hungry all the time. But these girls are not
:02:52. > :02:56.the only ones in this situation. There are thousands of families who
:02:57. > :03:02.do not have enough money at the moment. But thanks to things like
:03:02. > :03:06.food banks and other charities, they can get help. Joining us in
:03:06. > :03:16.the studio now is Graham Whittan, from End Child Poverty. Welcome to
:03:16. > :03:22.the show, Graham. A lot of people might have thought, those girls are
:03:22. > :03:27.not all that poor. What would you say poverty is? It affects children
:03:27. > :03:30.in different ways. We are talking about �12 a day, and children
:03:30. > :03:34.living in poverty often live in cold homes, struggled to do well at
:03:34. > :03:38.school. They might miss out on things which other children take
:03:38. > :03:42.for granted, things like school trips. We know that in recent years,
:03:42. > :03:47.times have got really hard, with families going into debt, and
:03:47. > :03:52.struggling to afford food. But lots of people are having to spend less,
:03:52. > :03:55.so what is the difference? We all know, the cost of living has gone
:03:55. > :04:00.up in recent years, and it affects people on lower incomes
:04:00. > :04:05.particularly. And we know that in recent years, a lot of parents have
:04:05. > :04:11.lost their jobs, and are struggling to find work. It is hard for those
:04:11. > :04:17.families. As you say, it is hard, but that does not necessarily mean
:04:17. > :04:21.that people have got a bad life, does it? No, poverty affects people,
:04:21. > :04:26.and children, in different ways. Lots of families are working really
:04:26. > :04:28.hard to lift themselves out of poverty. We want families to
:04:28. > :04:33.understand that there are lots of charities helping people up and
:04:33. > :04:39.down the country. So make sure you're getting everything you're
:04:39. > :04:49.entitled to. Now for the second of our two reports in which Hayley has
:04:49. > :04:53.been to meet Chantel, who's a full- time carer for her dad. Meet
:04:53. > :04:57.Chantel. She lives with her dad, Michael, and over the last few
:04:57. > :05:03.years, they haven't had much money to live on. My dad had a heart
:05:03. > :05:07.attack, and he could not work any more. He was on benefits, which is
:05:07. > :05:17.money you get from the Government to live on. It means that you can
:05:17. > :05:23.get food and stuff. Because I am my dad's career, I have to cook and
:05:23. > :05:29.clean and stuff around the house, like normal parents would do. I
:05:29. > :05:34.help my dad with the shopping, getting things off the shelf,
:05:34. > :05:41.putting them in the trolley, and stuff like that. We have to be
:05:41. > :05:46.careful with money, because we have got to pay the bills, and make sure
:05:47. > :05:53.we have a roof over our head, make sure we have food. These guys have
:05:53. > :05:58.about �190 a week to live on. �80 goes on bills, �70 goes on food,
:05:58. > :06:01.�10 goes on items like cleaning products and toilet paper, leaving
:06:02. > :06:11.only �30 for anything else like school shoes, presence, treats, it
:06:12. > :06:12.
:06:12. > :06:19.is not much, is it? No. We only had a pot of beans and two slices of
:06:19. > :06:24.bread. How do you cope with that? do not really worry about money, I
:06:24. > :06:27.just think about other people in the world who have not got anything.
:06:27. > :06:30.Thanks, Chantel, and thanks very much, Hayley. Now, the BBC has
:06:30. > :06:33.spoken to the Government about the problem and they've said they are
:06:33. > :06:37.trying their best to tackle child poverty in Britain. Ore has got
:06:37. > :06:40.more details. Yes, they've promised to help those families who are
:06:40. > :06:44.struggling by cutting or freezing some taxes and giving them more
:06:44. > :06:46.free childcare. They also say changes they're making to the
:06:46. > :06:52.benefits system will mean three million households will soon be
:06:52. > :06:56.better off. Now you don't have to be living in poverty to have felt
:06:56. > :07:00.the effects of the recession. We've been asking you guys online whether
:07:00. > :07:10.your families have had to cut back or make changes over the past few
:07:10. > :07:18.
:07:18. > :07:22.She says, it was better because it was not all about the presents.
:07:22. > :07:26.This one says, the recession has not affected my family as much as
:07:26. > :07:33.it has affected some of my friends, which we are very grateful for,
:07:33. > :07:38.because some of my friends have had to cut down a lot. This one says,
:07:38. > :07:41.everyone else I know is getting on fine, which makes me sad. And if
:07:41. > :07:50.you want to have your say, head over to the Newsround website,
:07:50. > :07:56.where we've also got loads on all the day's top stories. That's us