29 January 2020
“Education is free but a lot of school things are not”. This statement from a Member of the Children’s Parliament in Scotland sums up a prominent issue in the UK’s education systems. Children should have equal advantages and opportunities for health, happiness and education wherever they grow up.
28 January 2020
A £2 million National Lottery-backed project to support children’s learning and ease financial pressure on low-income parents starts today (Tuesday 28th January) with 128 schools across the UK set to take action over the next three years.
28 January 2020
A £2 million National Lottery-backed project to support children’s learning and ease financial pressure on low-income parents starts today (Tuesday 28th January) with 128 schools across the UK set to take action over the next three years.
01 November 2019
Low-income families are faced with ongoing challenges in budgeting and balancing the regular costs of living with meeting the need for more occasional and one-off items. But it is not just expenditure that is ‘lumpy’ in this way. Income can also come into households at different times and in different amounts. Research with families looking in depth at money management highlights something of a paradox in the juggling of low income.
04 September 2019
Working lone parents on reasonable pay cannot reach a minimum acceptable living standard – as defined by the public - even if they work full time, new research for Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) shows.
04 September 2019
The latest report in our annual Cost of a Child series finds that the overall cost of a child up to age 18 (including rent and childcare) is £185,000 for lone parents (up 19% since 2012) and £151,000 for couples (up 5.5% since 2012). The gap between lone parents’ actual income and what they need to meet family needs has grown sharply.
04 September 2019
The new school year is underway after the long summer break. This can be an expensive time for families. Most parents will have faced significant costs in recent weeks, from holiday childcare to new school uniforms. But to what extent are different families able to meet those costs? Every year for the past eight years, we have published research on what it costs to raise children from birth to age 18. This year the research coincides with the Spending Review, and puts a spotlight on how the government does support, and how it should support, families with the extra costs of children.
04 September 2019
Our annual Cost of a Child report this year finds that the overall cost of a child up to age 18 (including rent and childcare) is £185,000 for lone parents (up 19% since 2012) and £151,000 for couples (up 5.5% since 2012). The gap between lone parents’ actual income and what they need to meet family needs has grown sharply: lone parents working full time for the so-called national living wage ('NLW') are 21% (£80 a week) short of what they need – after paying for rent, childcare and council tax - a gap that has more than doubled from 10% since 2012.
20 August 2019
Financial support to low income families to pay for childcare through working tax credits is being replaced by the childcare element of universal credit. This Early Warning System report examines the impact of this change on parents and childcare providers.
03 April 2019
Children in low-income families are going hungry and are being exposed to feelings of shame and social exclusion because of lack of money and food, new research from UCL, published by Child Poverty Action Group shows.
