The UK’s most vulnerable families are facing shortfalls of up to £5,600 this year due to the cost-of-living crisis, new research has revealed.
A new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found that a single parent with one child would on average need to spend an additional £3,100 in 2023/24 to get the same goods and services than they would have bought in 2019/20.
Commissioned by the charity Save the Children, the research also revealed that for a couple with three children, this rises to almost £5,600, or over £100 per week.
When comparing the additional spending needed to increased incomes, all low-income families see a shortfall compared to their spending power in 2019, according to IPPR. Families’ shortfalls range from £200 to over £1,400 per year, and are especially large for families with three or more children.
Larger families have been disproportionately affected by rising costs, which have not been matched by proportionate benefit increases because of the two-child limit, and the fact that cost of living payments do not vary by family size.
When looking at housing too, a large family renting privately on Universal Credit could be out of pocket by thousands of pounds per year, according to the study.
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