• Furniture Poverty refers to when people are unable to buy or replace essential items.
• Such as parents having to choose whether their child eats or has a bed to sleep in.
• 1.2 million children and 4.8 million adults in the UK are living in furniture poverty.

End Furniture Poverty has recently launched the Time for Bed campaign, which is a Merseyside-wide campaign to address the issue that 18,000+ children across Merseyside are living without a bed of their own to sleep in. This shocking statistic was revealed in the 2023 report, ‘The Extent of Furniture Poverty’.

• By working in partnership with Merseyside schools
• Schools identify children living in bed poverty and make a referral
• Time for Bed receives, processes and fulfils referrals
• Arranges delivery and assembly of free bed bundles for children aged 0-18
• Provides a Support Directory of services for families

Since opening for referrals in July 2023, Time for Bed has already started to make a difference to 58 beneficiaries. They have also managed to engage with 15 partner schools. With fantastic feedback from the students and teachers:

“I would like to say although a bed is not something you would expect to have to do a referral for in 2023, your service has been a huge help for the families I have referred”

“The families I have referred since the site became live have said how the new beds have made a huge difference to their daily lives”

“After receiving his new bed, he attended school the next day and told the learning mentor that this was the first time he had slept in his own bed. He was smiling and laughing and talking about how great it was. His levels of concentration have improved vastly. He is more settled in class and doesn't appear as anxious. He talks about his room with the other children and his confidence has increased”