Couples raising two children while working full-time on the minimum wage are falling £49 a week short of being able to provide their family with a basic, no-frills lifestyle, research has found.
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) called for an increase in the government’s “national living wage” to allow families to have an acceptable standard of living.
Its Cost of a Child report, published on Monday, showed an 11% weekly shortfall for a couple raising two children at the point they are aged three and seven.
Worse, however, was the deficit for lone parents, who every week fall 20% short of being able to provide a level of living for their children defined as acceptable by public opinion.
The charity blamed rising prices, freezes on benefits and tax credit, the bedroom tax and the rollout of universal credit for hitting “family budgets hard”.
Gains from increased minimum wages were offset by a freeze in tax credit support, the research showed.
The overall cost for a couple raising a first child until they are 18 fell from £155,100 to £150,800. »
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