Dean of St Paul’s backs Christmas bed poverty appeal as two-thirds of target reached in just one week

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Reverend Andrew Tremlett has backed our Christmas appeal Our appeal comes as a recent report by the children’s charity Barnardo’s revealed 11 per cent of children in the UK are without a proper bed, causing a knock-on effect on their mental wellbeing and performance in school. After surveying 1,049 parents and 1,013 children aged between eight and 17, it found that 20 per cent of children without a bed felt tired at school while one in 12 parents said their children were “tired all the time” due to a lack of sleep. “It gives them a disadvantage being unable to focus on things compared to other children.” Zarach’s CEO Andy Peers said: “Our mission is to end child bed poverty in England but there’s a reason we want to end child bed poverty; it’s to give children the opportunity to engage at school. It’s shocking that so many children do not have a bed to call their own, and it’s important to come together to help put that right.” Lynn Perry MBE, Barnardo’s chief executive said: “Bed poverty is just one aspect of child poverty, yet it starkly illustrates the challenges faced by families not having enough money to afford the essentials needed to raise happy and healthy children.