Feeling the strain
Since late 2021, alongside a fall in disposable household income there have been particularly steep increases in the costs of food, energy, and housing. This rise is having a devastating impact on families across the United Kingdom.
In this report we focus on the day-to-day impact of cost of living increases on children’s lives. In addition, we have explored the impact parents and carers believe the current economic situation may have on their children’s futures.
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cost of living
Family finances and wellbeing
This report follows on from our publication of The Good Childhood Report 2023 and draws on responses from the parents and carers and their children who took part in our Good Childhood survey in May and June this year.
In this report we examine parent’s and carer’s responses to additional questions about their household financial situation in January and March 2023. We asked these questions as we wanted to understand the financial impacts that the current increases of the cost of living was having on families.
Give the gift of hope
Funding from Give Hope enables us to support children through their most serious life challenges. Through this scheme we provide young people with food, school uniform, therapy and more.
Key Findings from the report
- Overall, 82% of parents and carers indicated that they were ‘very’ or ‘quite’ concerned about the impact of the rising cost of living on their households over the next 12 months.
- Nearly a quarter (23%) of parents and carers were living in households in financial strain. Financial strain was indicated as those that reported that they had found it ‘very’ or ‘quite’ difficult to manage financially in January to March 2023.
- One in ten (10%) parents and carers reported that they ‘always’ ran out of money before then end of the month (between January and March 2023), and a further one in seven (14%) reported that they ran out of money ‘most of the time’
- 25% of parents and carers completing our survey scored below the midpoint on our measure of life satisfaction and would therefore be considered to have low overall wellbeing. With 54% of parents or carers in households in financial strain reporting low wellbeing.
- As reported in The Good Childhood Report 2023, 10% of children reported low wellbeing overall. For children in households in financial strain this was 16%, compared to 8% of children in households that were not in financial strain.
Our Policy recommendations
Our Policy recommendations
The Good Childhood 2023 report made a number of recommendations to address the issues affecting children’s and young people’s wellbeing. This report builds upon the evidence with a focus on family financial wellbeing. We are calling on The Government to:
- Create a Child Poverty Act that sets clear and measurable targets to reduce child poverty and improve children’s wellbeing.
- Renew investment in social security for children through increases to child benefits or, as a minimum, a more targeted increase for the families facing the brunt of cost of living price rises by uplifting the child element of Universal Credit and Child Tax Credit and removing the two-child limit.
- Ensure that social security for children is protected from erosion by committing to always uprating in line with inflation.
Behind these statistics are real life stories of families making difficult choices: between warmth and hunger, between essentials and debt. Yet, this is also about the emotional and psychological toll.
- Mark Russell
