Hello It was a nice day because it was snowing today. Took my baby out to station and play a bit with snow. Although it was so cold, so it was a very good day with everything

My hope for this year. It's looking forward for the new project meeting new people giving us new ideas, zoom meeting. And my fear is my finance and the cost of living. I'm going to look forward for the new year

I fear not being able to secure guaranteed hours as my employer seems to have cut back the hours I’m scheduled.

I hope for the Child Poverty Strategy to be genuinely radical. Even if measures won’t come into effect for 2025, having the prospect of poverty alleviation measures on the horizon will lift spirits.

So far everything has been good we are keeping everything low key but we had an exciting holiday

Hello there I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday, as we are about to enter another year I would love to take this opportunity to thank Changing Realities for everything you are doing for each and everyone of us, thank myself and my son are forever grateful.

On Wednesday, my family and I headed to Edinburgh to kick off our Christmas celebrations. The city looked amazing with all the lights and festive vibes. We wandered through Prince Street streets, grabbed some tasty treats, and just had a blast together. The Christmas market was definitely the best part, making memories that we'll always remember but i was really expensive and the train tickets were a bit too much!

Hello everyone in my area there's [support group] and it's very helpful for me and my son more specially emotional as a new mom in the new town, and [organisation] which is a women's network it's also very helpful, thank you.

My experiences of using local services hasn't always been great, but I sometimes wonder if it's because the area that I live in has fairly poor transport links, and hence, I'm not able to access them as much because of this.

Furthermore, local services (in my opinion) don't tend to 'reach out' to people as much as they used to, and when they do, it tends to usually be via social media, which not everyone uses.

Perhaps resorting to good old fashioned methods, like putting leaflets through peoples doors about what's on locally might solve some of these issues in terms of communication and reaching out to people who perhaps don't get out as much, and don't use social media.

Keir Starmer had a good line in opposition about wanting to make Britain "the best place in the world to grow up and grow old". I think a key narrative around child poverty should be that the last government invested billions in above inflation increases in the state pension (which are welcome) and now it's time to do the same for tackling child poverty.

Linking in with government's own narratives is key to success. One of Labour's 5 missions is: 'Break down barriers to opportunity' - what better way to do this than slashing the poverty that wrecks the life chances of millions.

Likewise the new 'milestones' announced this week include: 'Giving children the best start in life, with a record 75% of five-year-olds in England ready to learn when they start school' and 'Raising living standards in every part of the United Kingdom, so working people have more money in their pocket as we aim to deliver the highest sustained growth in the G7, with higher Real Household Disposable Income per person and GDP per capita by the end of the Parliament'.

With these milestones now set to define the government's focus from now on we should be pushing at an open door.

On the former point about five-year-olds ready to learn, there's a strong case for adopting the recent CMA recommendation on formula milk for example (for government to launch an NHS brand of formula milk sold at cost), there's equally a very strong case for increasing Universal Credit childcare reimbursement from 85% to 100% to reduce all barriers to low-income families accessing childcare and increasing their flexibility to work and indeed universalising childcare so the 30 hours free is for people out of work as well as in work making it easier for people to transition back into work and giving security of places in nurseries - no-one should have to worry that their son or daughter can no longer go to the same nursery if they lose their job. We should also remind ministers that the 2005 Labour manifesto promised to extend maternity pay from 9 months to 12 and that 20 years on might be a nice time to finally deliver on that pledge, likewise the 2015 Labour manifesto pledged to double (in weeks and pay rate) paternity leave but this has dropped off the party's agenda again. Both would help lower-earning new parents substantially.

The wider living standards milestone is obviously even more key. Whilst we should resist adopting the 'working people' dividing line used here by government, we could argue for higher Universal Credit overall, a specific increase (for example LHA being in line with 50th percentile of market rents, or an increase in the Child Element) or for a further reduction in the taper rate or increase in the Work Allowance.

In terms of story/narrative one of the areas that needs a lot of work is pointing out the high marginal deduction rates faced by those on Universal Credit. If you take on extra hours you'll lose 28% in National Insurance and income tax, then you'll lose 55p of your UC for every extra pound you earn. I think it's really impactful to point out that one extra hour on the new Minimum Wage of £12.21 will be £3.96 in reality once you've taken out NICs, income tax and UC deductions (a marginal rate in excess of 67%) and of course if you're a graduate and it takes your earnings over the student loan repayment threshold it's even less (£2.86)! So much for their beloved 'work incentives'. Contrasting these deduction rates with the attitudes towards higher taxes for the very rich would be powerful. In America campaigners have made some headway by pointing out people in high earning jobs (bankers, CEOs - even things like headteachers) pay less tax than their lowest paid employees. Arguing that the top rate of tax is 45% plus 2% NICs and therefore the taper rate should be lowered to (at the very least) 47% or (ideally) as low as 35% so that even when you start paying tax your marginal rate never exceeds 47%. Obviously this would come at a significant cost to government but pressing home the fairness argument to the wider public and amongst backbench MPs might win the day and would transform lives. As the focus seems to be Child Poverty rather than poverty more broadly perhaps it should be hinted to ministers that a new lower taper rate could apply only to those in receipt of Child Element or even just apply to the Child Element (though obviously this isn't my preference).

On Child Poverty a lot of good solutions like expanding the Healthy Start programme to all children up to age 16, giving free school meals to all on Universal Credit (or universally), giving free fruit to Key Stage 2 not just Key Stage 1 etc. all fit with the narrative of healthy child development - there's widespread public backing for this where we can harness celebrity support (Jamie Oliver, Marcus Rashford et al.) but also within government it would a case of securing the support of Health officials and ministers to be 'on our side' and in the spirit of joined up government not just back the policy in words but share resources on the basis of long-term savings to the NHS. Likewise, a key story we need to tell is about the evidence and we know there is evidence that free school meals and healthy eating in general improves pupil attainment. Sometimes we'll need to move away from the emotional heart-string tugs to the more practical realities of 'this will save you money down the line if you invest in this way' (dare I suggest the phrase: 'smarter allocation of government spending') rather than it being seen as asking for ever more 'free stuff'.

This sort of cross-departmental lobbying can be quite effective. It's a shame Lou Haigh has gone from Transport as I think she would have been even more receptive but essentially trying to persuade the DfT and the environmental/climate ministries that public transport should be free for all under 18s because it not only ticks climate and clean air goals but it also acts as their contribution to the Child Poverty Strategy.

Again, in terms of stories we tell I think it's vital that we get across that the line of child poverty and the line at which Free School Meals (and thus the Pupil Premium) kick in are very different. In fact there's about a £9,000 gap. If government were to extend the Pupil Premium to everyone on Universal Credit or to the poverty line or even adopt a tiered approach (PP1: current level; PP2: children in poverty but above the current threshold; PP3: children in UC households but above the poverty line) they would not only be providing more support for the neediest students but crucially they'd be providing schools with a far more robust set of data on the students in poverty in their school community and who might need additional support. Funnily enough, universities use much more robust data for contextual admissions than schools have about their own students.

I think on free breakfast clubs its worth praising ministers for this policy and encouraging them to set out an ambitious pathway to free wrap-around care 8am-6pm in all primary schools starting by extending Universal Credit childcare reimbursement rates from 85% to 100% (essentially making after school clubs free for UC families) with a longer term aspiration to make these universal.

Finally, I think we need to try and 'crowd-in' support for the Child Poverty Strategy. We've seen in recent years a swathe of support for 'kids eat free' during the holiday schemes from the private sector, there are such easy things government could do, for example ensuring every nursery is signed up to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library programme so that virtually every child 0-5 years gets a free book every month. I was fortunate enough that my daughter's nursery school was signed up and we received wonderful books and receiving one in the post was an exciting moment that inspired a love of reading for my daughter yet my son's nursery (he went to the nursery at my daughter's primary school) wasn't signed up so he missed out (although obviously I read him all the books his sister had previously received). This links back with my point (made in response to the last big question and alluded to above) about expanding the Healthy Start scheme. I'm certain that the programme could be modernised in partnership with the major supermarket chains so that it works more like a discount card where qualifying products are digitally marked in the checkout system so that when you scan your 'card' via the app at the till it automatically deducts the Healthy Start amount from your bill. Simplifying the scheme so that it actually works at self-checkouts (the current scheme forces recipients to go a manned checkout perhaps causing awkward conversations about why they can't use the much quicker queue line) and also making it universal would reduce the stigma attached to using such vouchers. It would just become the norm that parents get money off for fruit, veg and milk etc.

Whilst fundamentally it must be the duty of government to provide a minimum quality of life via social security and free at the point of use public services, there must be a myriad of other ways in which the private and third sectors could become involved in providing additional support for the Child Poverty Strategy and in doing so I suspect it would create resilient, long-term momentum for eradicating child poverty.

Fellow participants may disagree but I would like it if Child Benefit could be moved from the 13 payment 4-weekly cycle to a fixed 1st of the month 12 payment monthly cycle bringing it in-line with Universal Credit. This would help me with budgeting as I try to put as many bills as possible onto the 1st of the month where I know UC and pay will be in my account to ensure these are paid and I don't fall into any arrears. This is a relatively straightforward change for government which could be implemented quickly but make quite a big difference for people on low-incomes planning their finances.

The two hardest costs to manage are childcare and food.

The latter is the one which fluctuates the most. Things I do to manage costs: plan meals well in advance and do as much shopping in bulk as possible to take advantage of coupons and Tesco's Clubcard+ 10% discount for £8 a month service. Nonetheless, there's a limit to how much freezer space I have for buying in advance and the quid-pro-quo of clubcard offers and the discount scheme is I'm pretty much locked into shopping with Tesco. The idea of shopping around for deals at other supermarkets is pushed by the CMA but isn't realistic for busy working single-parent households.

With childcare the biggest issue is that only 85% is reimbursed not 100%.

The biggest things I think that government could do here are:

- Radically rethink the Healthy Start scheme by extending eligibility to be either universal for parents of children up to age 11 or 16, or cover all Universal Credit claimants receiving Child Element. Government should work with the major supermarkets, including growing players like B&M, to simplify the scheme so that it works more like a discount card than a separate payment, it shouldn't be beyond supermarkets and government to co-design an app that where scanned would then automatically deduct cash from eligible products purchased.

- Expand free fruit scheme for Key Stage 1 pupils to Key Stage 2 at an estimated cost of about £108million per annum. Not only could this boost child nutrition and help low income families meet the 5-a-day guideline (especially if combined with the next point which in total would mean schools providing 3 out of the 5-a-day) it could also give a small boost to UK fruit farmers.

- Extend free school meals at primary and secondary to be universal (ideal) or at the very least to all Universal Credit claimants receiving Child Element.

- The introduction of free breakfast clubs is very welcome and will save me £142.80 per year (this is the 15% cost not reimbursed for breakfast club costs incurred for my two children twice a week). The government must try to match the ambition with free, universal, after school clubs long-term (see IPPR report https://www.ippr.org/media-office/a-universal-childcare-guarantee-for-children-up-to-11-would-boost-economy-by-extra-13-billion-a-year-report-finds) but as an immediate measure though they could pay Universal Credit childcare costs at 100% instead of 85%, in my case this would save me £252 a year and more importantly it could allow government to shift to a model where registered providers invoice government directly for reimbursement rather than claimants thus making financial management much easier.

A third irregular set of costs that are difficult to manage are:

- not getting paid when your child is off sick and you need to stay home with them (don't have an obvious solution to that one!)

- school uniform costs (here my bold proposal is that if you work for a retailer or chain restaurant your uniform is provided by the employer, why couldn't schools be made responsible for the procurement and supply of their own uniforms to pupils each year with charges incurred for additional items where damaged or lost). Schools could then charge a fixed price for these (forcing schools to negotiate cheaper prices) and UC claimants could get them for free (or, again, it could just be universally free).

I always make notes what need pay and how much. The hardest I'd say is food shop prices x

I make cuts backs on certain things, don’t eat much myself. Energy bills, my debts are mounting daily