– I do everything I can so that they don’t notice that I’m thinking about money, but it’s a stress factor that demands an incredible amount from me, says mother of two Ingrid Heggland when news meets her in her kitchen. She finds the vegetables for the dinner the two daughters aged 9 and 12 will have when they soon come home from school. The last year has been a bit fat – very rarely has there been enough money to eat enough outside the four walls of the flat. Pretty much everything that can be cut is cut at the Heggland family. – It has to be the way things are now, says the mother of two, who prioritizes healthy and home-cooked food in her tight budget. Photo: Adan Hassan Tassamma / news Child benefit claimant Heggland became so ill that she switched to reduced work, and was approved for employment verification money for the rest. – With my illness, it is difficult to know how long I will have to go to AAP, so I built up a buffer. – There is not much left of that, says Heggland, who feels she is pushing herself to work more than is healthy in order to have the highest possible income. The financial adjustment, in the middle of an expensive time, has been demanding for the single mother – every penny is useful. Thus, child benefit has become much more important to get the economy going. If the daughters had been younger, the poor family would have had more to go on from month to month. The rate for children between 6 and 17 is NOK 1,083, but for the youngest it is NOK 1,723. As a result, the family misses out on NOK 15,360 a year. Heggland understands little of that, as the expenses have not decreased with age. – I have become much stricter about what we spend money on, says Ingrid Helland, who tries to get what the children need. Photo: Adan Hassan Tassamma / news – It had covered a lot of the expenses for sports and leisure. I could simply say yes to more, says Heggland about the child benefit she does not receive. Child benefit at national meeting Save the Children wants to put an end to this difference between families with children. The organization works for children’s conditions in over 120 countries all over the world. This year they have also seen themselves forced to put a spotlight on the importance of child welfare for the situation of many children in Norway. Photo: Adan Hassan Tassamma / news They do this together with organizations such as Unicef, the Single Parents’ Association and the Church’s City Mission by meeting outside Folkets Hus, where the Labor Party is holding a national meeting. They demand that the price of child benefit be adjusted annually, as it was in March this year, and that the child benefit rate be as high as for the youngest. – I have a clear expectation that they will use the government’s power to help families with children who are struggling financially, says Monica Sydgård, who heads Save the Children’s Norwegian programme. Monica Sydgård in Save the Children gave the Labor Party mayor in Sarpsborg, Sindre Martinsen-Evje, a clear message about what she wanted from him and 299 other delegates at the government party’s national meeting. Photo: Mats Rønning / news Delegates who mainly come from local groups who want to increase social security benefits pass the marking, Aftenposten’s mapping shows. Troms Ap has with it a proposal that meets Sydgård and Heggland’s expectations. – We want price adjustments and higher child benefits to be considered as part of the wholesome welfare policy at a time when many feel that they are not making ends meet, says delegation leader Kristina Torbergsen. – Then this can be an aid to give families with children a better financial situation. Torbergsen adds that any improvement in benefits must be set in conjunction with other measures to overcome child poverty, such as getting more people into work and raising the wages of those who earn the least. – Child benefit must support the costs associated with having a child, but it must not replace other income. he thinks. Troms Ap is open to the fact that child benefit can be a scheme to expand in a demanding time for many, says Kristina Torbergsen, who leads the delegation at the national meeting. Photo: Troms and Finnmark County Council Statistics Norway: Counteracts child poverty But for the Heggland family, higher child benefit would have been a welcome compensation for some of the drop in income they are now experiencing. Although the situation is demanding, it is a long way down to those who are worst off – namely the families with persistently low incomes. Statistics Norway refers to research that links such conditions to, among other things, lower levels of education, weaker connections to the labor market and mental health challenges. Their latest figures, for 2021, show that the proportion of children living in such families has more than tripled in 20 years. – Critical situation – The Labor Party cannot live with 110,000 children living in poverty, says Sydgård. Sarpsborg is the city that comes out worst with 19 per cent, against 11.3 per cent nationally. There is a decrease in both places from the previous year. Statistics Norway partly explains the positive development with the increase in child benefit for the youngest in 2020 and 2021. We have a very strong influx of secondary refugees from other municipalities. They live there for five years, then they move to Sarpsborg, says mayor Sindre Martinsen-Evje (Ap). As many as six out of ten children in low-income households have an immigrant background, statistics from Statistics Norway show. Photo: Sebastian Nordli/news Nevertheless, a further increase in child benefit is not a matter of heart for Labor Party mayor Sindre Martinsen-Evje. – We must work wholeheartedly with good health services, nurseries, schools, after-school care – and make sure that our children and young people get education and skills so that they can get a job. Then we have to make sure that our children are not shut out because of finances, but are allowed to be part of the community, he says. On Friday, the Labor Party decided to raise the lowest benefits and schemes for those who have the least, but what they concretely land on in the matter of child benefit will only become clear on Saturday. On the way to the national meeting, Sydgård from Redd Barna gives the mayor a “child benefit cheque” with a message that he and the other delegates hope will be converted into a decision. Monica Sydgård in Save the Children gave the Labor Party mayor in Sarpsborg, Sindre Martinsen-Evje, a clear message about what she wanted from him and 299 other delegates at the government party’s national meeting. Photo: Mats Rønning / news – The situation is critical for those who have the least, says Sydgård. In the meantime, she hopes financial measures will be taken, and that she will recover before the buffer is empty. – That is the great hope.
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Her daughters are too old – the single mother misses out on NOK 15,000 in child benefit
