The charity found that one in six children aged between 10 and 17 living in households under financial strain have low wellbeing.
This proportion more than halves to almost one in 13 among young people living in families not experiencing financial difficulty. Overall, one in 10 children as young as 10 have low wellbeing.
One in five children say they “frequently worry about their family’s financial status” and more than half say they “sometimes” worry about how much money their family has.
"Behind these statistics are real life stories of families making difficult choices: between heating and eating, between essentials and debt,” said Children’s Society chief executive Mark Russell.
“No child should lose sleep over their family's finances,” he added.
“Every child deserves a good childhood and as we head into the winter, these findings should serve as an wake-up call - we need an urgent government plan to lift families out of poverty.”
The survey findings have been revealed in the charity’s Feeling the Strain report, which found that more than eight in 10 parents and carers are concerned about the cost of living’s impact on their families over the coming year.
Families are feeling the strain of the #CostOfLivingCrisis. "And this isn't just data and statistics, this is the pulse of anxiety in families right across the nation." - @markrusselluk
— The Children's Society (@childrensociety) November 14, 2023
Read more: https://t.co/KfKm6xfjJj pic.twitter.com/MjGCYfgl4d
Almost a quarter of families “grappled with financial strain” in the first three months of this year and one in 10 said that they “always ran out of money before the end of the month”. One in seven revealed they run out of money “most of the time”.
More than half of parents and carers experiencing financial challenges have low overall wellbeing, the Children’s Society’s report found.
The charity is urging the government to increase investment in social security for children and introduce an "essentials guarantee" to ensure families can afford basic needs.
The free school meals threshold should be expanded to include all children in families in receipt of universal credit.
In addition, the Household Support Fund should be made permanent for families facing financial crisis and backed with a funding commitment of at least £1bn a year. This fund was introduced by the government for the 12 months to the end of March 2024 to help families tackle the cost-of-living crisis.
In September Barnardo's also called for this fund to be extended, to reduce the number of families unable to afford suitable beds for their children.
