My kids had to sleep on the floor when I escaped my abusive ex – the gift of a bed has changed our lives

Two years ago, Suzie* had been facing an impossible decision. Stay with her abusive partner and face a life of violence, or flee the family home with her five children and face the possibility of poverty and homelessness.

With support from a domestic abuse charity, they escaped with very few possessions and were placed in a refuge, before dealing with the daunting prospect of securing a flat and finding the money for furniture.

“As I have five kids, we were massively, massively hit by the benefits cap,” she told The Independent. “We didn’t have gas a lot of the time and we haven’t had much support from Leeds City Council. The children were always fed but I lost a tonne of weight because we just didn’t have any food.”

She was left sharing a mattress with her two youngest children, while her eldest three slept on cramped blow-up airbeds in their small rented flat. After realising their situation, the children’s school referred them to Zarach, a charity tackling bed poverty in the northwest of England.

Founded in 2017 by Bex Wilson, deputy headteacher at a primary school in Leeds, it has now delivered over 7,000 beds to the most vulnerable children in society and hopes to expand its work across the UK.

Through their partnership with over 500 schools that provide them with referrals, they are able to deliver mattresses, pillows, duvets, pyjamas and toiletries to ensure children get a good night’s sleep.

For Suzie, the arrival of proper beds marked a turning point in the lives of her children. “It was overwhelming, I think I cried and I’m not usually a crying person,” she said.

“I cried and the youngest two were at home as I’d taken them home early from school so they could be there when the beds were delivered. They were just so excited – just the fact they brought two toothbrushes they thought was amazing.”

Speaking from a converted shipping container at the charity’s headquarters, CEO Andy Peers said: “Our mission is to end child bed poverty in England but there’s a reason we want to [do that]; it’s to give children the opportunity to engage at school.

“Everybody recognises that education is a really clear way to break that future cycle of poverty.”

In an enormous warehouse located down a side street in Leeds, a group of Zarach volunteers spend their days braving the cold to pack rows of flatpack bed furniture into transit vans. “I was here in August and I had to wear gloves,” one joked, while both portable heaters and Christmas music blasted in the background.

Rows of mattresses and bed frames fill the building, with boxes packed with colourful pyjamas and books neatly lined for volunteers to sort the packing.

After spending his morning delivering 46 beds to Bradford, volunteer Craig White said: “I really wanted to get involved because it’s in my local area and when I first heard about it, I couldn’t understand bed poverty. I just thought: ‘Is that really a problem in my city?’”

Their efforts come as a recent report from Barnado’s revealed that 894,000 children are living in bed poverty in the UK, with many having to share with multiple family members or sleep on the sofa or floor.

As part of their first national Christmas appeal, Zarach is now hoping to provide 500 beds for the most deprived children in society this December, a mission that The Independent is proudly supporting.

Since fleeing her former partner and being able to sleep comfortably, Susie’s life has improved immeasurably.

“When I compare school photos of my children, they just look so healthy now,” she said. “I’ve managed to get a boatload of qualifications, I’m halfway through a degree, I’m working full-time – silly things that people do that we never could, but now we can. We don’t take that for granted and we feel really privileged.”

“When you see children who don’t have a good night’s sleep, you can see that they really, really struggle throughout the day. It gives them a disadvantage being unable to focus on things compared to other children,” she added.

“It’s a major thing for families that are living in poverty. Education is the only way out of that for some children so getting those beds, it’s not just that immediate impact, it’s a lifelong impact.”

A YouGov poll from September found that 20 per cent of children without a bed said they felt tired at school, while 13 per cent struggled during physical activities and one in 12 parents said their children were “tired all the time” due to not having their own bed.

Each of Zarach’s bed bundles costs £180, which includes a child’s bed, bedding, linen, a hygiene pack, a reading book and a £30 supermarket voucher for a family Christmas meal.

The charity also maintains contact with the families it supports and receives progress reports from the children’s schools.

Geordie Greig, editor-in-chief of The Independent, said: “We are proud to support Zarach’s campaign. 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.

“Families in crisis are having to prioritise essentials such as food, heating and electricity over things like replacing mouldy bedding or fixing a rotten or broken bed. Children are sharing beds and sleeping on the floor, all of which is affecting their development, attendance at school and their mental health.

“We are pleased The Independent is highlighting this issue and helping to address it in the run-up to Christmas, sadly a difficult time for many.”

* Name has been changed