Child Poverty Action Group release 'The Cost of a Child in 2013' report
Families are struggling as the cost of bringing up a child and meet their minimum needs has risen to £148,000 - around £160 per week - according to research for the Child Poverty Action Group charity (CPAG).
The minimum necessary cost for raising a child rose by 4% in 2013 while average earnings rose by 1.5%, benefits for families and children by just 1%, and child benefit did not rise at all.
Families receiving out of work benefits face even greater shortfalls of income. Couple families receive only 58% of the income they require to cover minimum costs, while lone parents get 61%.
CPAG says that the introduction of universal credit from October 2013 will have mixed results for families. However, for both couple and lone parents working full time on the minimum wage, the new system will still leave them some way short of an acceptable standard of living.
For further information and a copy of the report go to -http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/cost-child-2013
NB - up to half a million disabled people and their families - including children and disabled adults living on their own - will be worse off under Universal Credit according to a report last year by Disability Rights UK, The Children’s Society, and Citizens Advice.
The report, ‘Holes in the safety net: The impact of Universal Credit on disabled people and their families’ shows that cuts to child disability additions and to the severe disability premium are likely to result in them struggling to pay for basic essentials such as food and heating.
For more information and a copy of the report go to -