Dispatches: Born on the Breadline

Born on the Breadline broke the news story that there are now more than 100 baby banks in the UK, providing essential children’s items to families in need. The vast majority of these were set up since austerity. Jess Stevenson’s film looked at this newly emergent sector through the eyes of the parents - both working and out of work - who rely on them for basic items like nappies, clothes, food and prams.

Jess and her team travelled the length and breadth of the country opening up access to baby banks large and small and building relationships with both those managing them and the people they support.

On transmission, Born on the Breadline drew the attention of the wider public, for the first time, to the rising dependency on baby banks in this country. It provoked outrage on Twitter and other social media - a lot of people had never heard of a baby bank before. It was the second most talked about programme on Channel 4 the week it went out. With discussion of Universal Credit at a peak at the time of broadcast, the film was a timely reminder that for many families, austerity is most certainly not ‘over’.

The film was Pick of the Day in newspapers of various political stripes. Writing in the Mirror, veteran columnist Brian Reade asked: “What does all this say about human progress? What does it say about a country famed for valuing fairness that parents are relying on charity to feed, clothe and clean their babies?”