Today’s children are tomorrow’s future: Speech on child poverty

Spoken at the Resolution Foundation on 12th November 2025

Hello, my name is Tayyaba.

I am a single parent of a teenager and a survivor of Domestic Violence. I’m an educated woman, who ran away from an abusive partner one morning holding a one year old boy in my arms and my educational documents. It took me years of volunteering work in my community to get a job in the NHS in 2020. 

When I got this job, I was so happy that now me and my son would have a decent life. But I was shocked to be working and not able to afford the basics. To still need benefits and use food banks.

Poverty is a very complicated issue but feeding a child is not. We need tailored support and an income that meets the cost of living. Not having enough money means:

• No food
• No electricity
• No peace of mind
• Our Mental health is affected
• Physical health is affected
• Children's present and future affected

But today’s children are tomorrow’s future. It is so important we protect them and give them what they need. The government needs to look at our outgoings. What we get on Universal Credit is not enough. We need proper support to stand back on our feet.

I also want to talk about some of the barriers single parents face to work. When I was working in the NHS they didn’t understand a single parent’s life. I sometimes needed to take annual leave at the last minute, not six weeks in advance. One time I was threatened with disciplinary action because the GP asked me to bring my son and I requested and begged for a half day off.

Today I am not just talking about myself. I am here on behalf of many parents with similar experiences to my own. I’m sharing the words of another Changing Realities parent, Nicola, who says:

“As a single parent doing 12-hour shifts back-to-back, I needed support that worked in the real world—not rigid rules that ignore how impossible this juggling act really is. None of this was about lack of effort. It was about lack of support. Lack of justice. Lack of flexibility.”

I am also a volunteer for the single parents organisation, Gingerbread, where I support over 60 parents in my borough. A recent parent I have supported with two kids, aged 3 and 1, messaged me one night that she had been sanctioned and only had enough money to buy milk.

There are many reasons why single parents might struggle to work. Including parents with disabilities or who have disabled children.

Finally, I’d like to end by asking you to stand with us not against us. Childhood after all is the first precious coin that poverty steals from a child.