Union survey reveals impact of poverty on pupils and staff

More than a third of teachers have observed physical underdevelopment among their pupils due to poverty, according to a new survey by an education union. The online survey of National Education Union (NEU) members was conducted between 28 January – 9 February 2025, and received responses from teachers, support staff and other members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including from 11,628 teachers and 3,165 support staff in English state schools.

In a data release focusing on those responses from English state schools the union found 39 per cent of teachers have observed physical underdevelopment among their pupils. More than half of the teachers (52 per cent) from the most deprived schools said the same, compared to around a quarter (27 per cent) of those working in the least deprived. Additionally, 87 per cent of teachers have seen students showing signs of tiredness/fatigue when in school as a consequence of poverty. For teachers working in the most deprived areas, this rose to 92 per cent. Meanwhile - perhaps due to working closely with pupils in small groups or one-to-one situations - school support staff were even more likely than teachers to report pupils with poverty-related poor hygiene (74 per cent of support staff), pupils in inadequate clothing or shoes (72 per cent) and pupils showing signs of hunger (69 per cent).

The NEU note how schools are stepping in to provide support to pupils from deprived backgrounds, for example 58 per cent of teachers said their school provides free breakfasts, 37 per cent have food banks, and 35 per cent supply free lunches beyond the Free School Meals (FSM) allowance. 42 per cent report that their school also provides extra food for hungry pupils. Support also extends to the supply of period products (64 per cent of teachers say their school provides these), help with uniforms (80 per cent), the provision of hygiene banks (15 per cent) and help with laundry (15 per cent).

Support is not just being provided by the school itself but by staff personally. Almost two thirds of school support staff (63 per cent) and over half of teachers (54 per cent) said that they personally and regularly provided extra food to pupils out of their own pocket. Even more widespread was support with learning supplies such as stationery, which 78 per cent of teachers and 66 per cent of support staff reported personally providing to pupils.

The NEU is calling on the government to urgently implement a strategy to reduce child poverty and to do more to support schools to respond to the effects of poverty and its impact on children's learning, as well as for FSM to be provided to all pupils, starting with all primary pupils.

Commenting on the findings, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said: ‘Child poverty is a political choice, one that has been sustained by successive governments which have failed to get to grips with the solutions. It is profoundly worrying that in one of the richest countries in the world, we continue to expect schools to plug the gap.’ He added: ‘The reality is that child poverty is rising, not falling…….A government calling for “high and rising standards” cannot at the same time stand idly by in the face of high and rising rates of child poverty. The government must take action.’

A Department for Education spokesperson said: ‘No child should be living in poverty, which is why we have already taken wide-ranging action to break the unfair link between background and opportunity, led by our cross-government child poverty taskforce. We have also tripled investment in breakfast clubs to over £30m – with delivery of free meals and childcare to begin in up to 750 schools from this month – and increased pupil premium to over £3bn to provide additional support for those children that need it most.’