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Families are facing a “challenging” 12 months, Downing Street’s cost of living czar has warned
(Picture: PA)Families are facing a “challenging” 12 months, Downing Street’s cost of living czar warned on Thursday, as he pledged support for parents on back to school costs.
David Buttress announced a range of government-backed offers to help struggling households feed their children over the holidays, but said further support after the summer break was coming.
It comes after a survey by the Children’s Society found that parents were paying more than £330 per child per year for compulsory secondary school uniforms.
“If we look at the next 12 months it is going to be a challenging time,” Mr Buttress told LBC.
“I’m excited about a couple of things we will announce over the coming four to eight weeks.
“One is back to school. We have been working really hard with a couple of major suppliers... to try to manage and mitigate the inflation pressure around the back to school costs.”
The former Just Eat CEO today launched a campaign to help millions of struggling families with food and other bills through the Help for Households initiative.
It sees discounts from some of the UK’s biggest businesses, such as Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons and Vodafone, and includes the “feed your family for a fiver” deal from supermarkets.
Mr Buttress added that he hoped the next Prime Minister will share the “same sort of excitement and passion” as Boris Johnson for the initiative to help households with the cost of living crisis.