Families are being forced to reuse nappies and sanitary towels and children are arriving at school cold and going hungry as the cost-of-living crisis bites.

One Camden headteacher said parents had asked if they could come to school to keep warm, while a boxing gym is finding children coming just so they can take a shower.

Charity bosses warned the impacts of the financial crisis are already causing real suffering and that "hygiene poverty" brings a mental health cost too.

Camden Council heard from charities and teachers in a themed debate into the cost-of-living crisis on Monday (November 21).

It comes as the council announced it is spending £300,000 to help 25 schools start breakfast clubs and £175,000 to make council houses more energy efficient.

The money comes from the profits made by selling fuel from the North London Waste Authority, which Camden owns with six other councils.

Ham & High: Alet Madhang, Healthy Beginnings, Camden told a Camden cost-of-living debate they were teaching families to make cheap, healthy mealsAlet Madhang, Healthy Beginnings, Camden told a Camden cost-of-living debate they were teaching families to make cheap, healthy meals (Image: Julia Gregory)

More than 25,000 people in Camden are on low incomes and nearly 40% of children are living in poverty. 

There have been 1,200 applications for help from the council’s £2m cost-of-living crisis fund.

Kate Moon from Little Village baby bank described how one child suffered pressure sores because their family was running out of nappies.

She told councillors people are reusing nappies and sanitary towels because of the cost of living crisis.

“There is a real increase in hygiene poverty,” she said.

Angela Mason from Camden Women’s Forum said: “Women have been described as the shock absorbers of the crisis as they’re most responsible for food shopping, buying clothes, making the budget stretch. Yet they rarely have equal access to work and pay and have to rely on the child care system, which is one of the most expensive.”

She said school uniform costs were a worry and called for an extension of free school meals so families did not have to worry about the cost of lunch.

Helen Connor, headteacher at Rhyl Primary School in Kentish Town, said the crisis “is only going to get worse as the winter continues and the full impact hits.”

She said: “We’ve got parents who say they are scared to put the heating on and they’ve asked if they can come to school to sit in the warm during the school day.

“Children are coming to school increasingly with inadequate clothing and not enough to eat for lunch.”

Ms Connor called for every child to get a school meal, saying there was a noticeable decrease in take up as families can’t afford the cost.

“That is the only hot meal for some children and that is increasingly concerning that families cannot afford to pay for a school meal if they are not entitled to a free school meal.

“For every primary school child and secondary school child to have free school meals would make a significant difference. It would mean that children are not hungry.”

She warned “It’s going to be a poverty and mental health crisis that’s going to impact on our children for many years to come.”

Ham & High: Angela Mason, Camden Women's Forum, said women were 'the shock absorbers of the cost-of-living crisis' Angela Mason, Camden Women's Forum, said women were 'the shock absorbers of the cost-of-living crisis' (Image: Julia Gregory)

Rachel B, who runs outreach at Hawley Amateur Boxing Club in Kentish Town, said: “We are seeing people coming to the gym just so they can take a shower.”

She added that hygiene poverty is “affecting children’s confidence quite a lot. We often think of food banks at times of crisis like this but actually there's real hygiene poverty at this moment as well.”

The club is providing shampoo, shower gels, soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste to people but needs money to extend this.

Judy Whalley, from Camden Citizens Advice, said there has been an increase in calls for advice and more complex problems.

“After the pandemic we are finding people who have previously managed are now in difficulties and many of these are working.”

These include people struggling with mortgage payments and debt.

By early September they dealt with as many queries about energy bills as the whole of last year.

Cllr Richard Olszewski, cabinet member for finance, warned people to avoid borrowing money at high interest rates from loan sharks, saying money advice is available at the Warm Spaces set up by the council.

He said: “We heard agonising tales of what people are experiencing” at a recent cost-of-living summit but also ”a fantastic energy and determination” to tackle the problems.