HUNDREDS of thousands of children could be facing winter without appropriate coats, research for Barnardo’s has revealed.

A YouGov survey on behalf of the children’s charity found that around one in seven parents in Britain (15 per cent) will struggle to afford a coat or warm clothing for their offspring this winter.

One in 50 children aged six to 15 say they do not have a winter coat, while around one in eight who do have a coat are worried that it will not keep them warm.

Barnardo’s estimates that around 2.2 million parents are struggling to afford a warm coat or clothing for their children this winter, with 300,000 children in Britain lacking one.

In a recent survey of Barnardo’s front-line staff, 46 per cent said they had witnessed children and families going without essential clothing.

Scarlet, 17, from Plymouth, said she remembered going to school in a thin cardigan and shivering.

Her mother is disabled, so her father is her full-time carer.

She said: “As you get older, the coats get more expensive. The last few years, we’ve had coats from charity shops.

“We’ve had loads of hand-me-downs from my older sister. My younger sister gets all [mine].

“They get tattier and tattier as they get handed down.”

Scarlet said last winter was “really difficult” and the family had to keep heating on more than usual due to her mother’s needs.

“My family and I have used foodbanks,” she said. “I volunteered at a foodbank in 2023 to 2024.

“If you go to those kinds of places, you realise how much worse it can be.”

Actor and Barnardo’s ambassador Dame Helen Mirren said it was “heartbreaking” that so many children will be hungry and cold this winter.

She said: “When families are living from hand to mouth, as so many families are in the UK even today, it just takes one thing to go wrong and they can be in a crisis.”

Barnardo’s chief executive Lynn Perry said it was “simply not right” that children were facing a harsh winter without basics, adding: “Behind the sparkle of the festive season, we know there will be children worrying about having enough to eat, making do with a coat that’s too small and feeling left out of the celebrations.”

The charity is taking donations to help support children and their families with essentials.