FUNDERS UNITE TO LAUNCH £15 MILLION FUNDING PROGRAMME TO TACKLE RISING CHILD POVERTY IN THE UK

Wednesday 24 September – Today, BBC Children in Need, in partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund, City Bridge Foundation, Pears Foundation and The Hunter Foundation has launched a new, £15 million funding programme dedicated to tackling child poverty in the UK named Communities for Children.

The first, major funder collaboration in the UK focused on finding and funding scalable solutions to support the impact of poverty on children, Communities for Children aims to support children living in the most economically deprived areas of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to thrive and fulfil their potential.

The launch of Communities for Children comes at a poignant time given the latest Households Below Average Income statistics published by the Government show 4.5 million children were in poverty in the year to April 2024, an increase of 100,000 from the previous year. 

BBC Children in Need currently funds 648 projects to the value of £39.5 million, which are focused on supporting children and young people affected by poverty, with these grants now making up 47 per cent of BBC Children in Need’s current portfolio.

Recognising funding alone will not tackle these systemic issues, Communities for Children’s ambitious national programme will use a place-based approach in its delivery, targeting ten locations across the UK.

This will include building strong local partnerships, engaging community leaders, and elevating the voices of children and young people—particularly those often left unheard. By doing so, the programme aims to challenge stigma, inspire change in local systems, and share learnings across communities.

Fozia Irfan OBE, Director of Impact – Influence at BBC Children in Need, said: “Child poverty is one of the most critical challenges in the UK today. It is a complex and deep-rooted social issue, and the impact it has on young lives varies with every individual and every place. We acknowledge that even the most promising strategies to address child poverty cannot reach far and fast enough without significant resources. 

“Together with our valued partners, we hope Communities for Children’s funding and multi-dimensional support will ultimately build a groundswell of community-led change, allowing sector leaders across the UK to pursue long-term solutions for children and young people living in poverty.”

Communities for Children will be shaped by the people and communities it supports by empowering voluntary sector organisations, community leaders, and children and young people with lived experience of poverty to form local partnerships. 

These local partnerships will work closely with services and public bodies to create and implement practical plans to help reduce the effects of child poverty in those locations. The organisations that receive Communities for Children funding will take the lead in supporting these partnerships to grow and succeed.

The five-year programme will be rolled out in phases, starting with four locations in the first year and expanding to ten by the third year, including rural, urban, and coastal areas.

Selected locations will each be awarded up to £1.5 million across five years, with funding to be directed into alleviating the impact of child poverty and empower them to develop their own local solutions to the impact of child poverty.

Organisations interested in applying for Communities for Children funding are encouraged to visit the programme website for further information.