Parents struggling to afford basics for children, study finds

The group's The Cost of a Child in 2017 study reports that in the year to April 2017 the minimum cost of raising a child to adulthood rose from £151,561 to £155,142 for couples and from £182,589 to £187,120 for lone parents, the difference being largely attributed to additional childcare costs.

The report states that this rise in costs, coupled with rising inflation and the government's freeze on benefit rises until 2019 was leaving more and more families struggling to make ends meet.

It estimates that families where both parents earn the National Living Wage currently face a £59 a week shortfall in what they need to raise their children. Lone parents earning the National Living Wage face a shortfall of £68 a week.

Non-working families face a larger income gap. Non-working couples need £187 more a week to match the cost of raising a child, says the report, while lone parents need an extra £146 a week.

"After a lull in inflation, the cost of essentials is once again rising," said report author Professor Donald Hirsch of Loughborough University.

"For the first time in post-war history, these cost increases are not being matched by increases in support given to families from the state.

"While this policy persists, the struggle that low-income families face to make ends meet will become steadily harder, especially because it is being combined with numerous other cuts including the benefit cap and the bedroom tax.

"These cuts are particularly painful for non-working families, who already have little over half what they need to cover family costs.

"For them, the ‘safety net' of means-tested support no longer merits this name, since it does not offer the safety of an income capable of covering essentials.

"Families unable to cover their costs on benefits are typically having to fall back on help from their families, run up large debts or undergo serious hardship."

The Child Poverty Action Group has urged Chancellor Philip Hammond to use the autumn Budget to increase support for low-income families.

"Rather than prioritising tax cuts which help the better off, the Chancellor should use the autumn Budget to invest in helping families with children," the group's chief executive Alison Garnham said.

"Ending the benefits freeze should be the first step he takes to re-balance the finances of ordinary families."

The study used the Minimum Incomes Standard measure developed by Loughborough University to calculate the cost of raising a child.