MINIMUM WAGE HITS FAMILY LIFE

Parents can’t make ends meet

PARENTS on minimum wage with two kids fall £49 short each week even with a basic, no-frills lifestyle.

Campaigners called for an increase in the wage to give families an acceptable standard of living.

Those raising two children fall 11% – or £49 a week – below a decent standard when the kids are aged three and seven, the Child Poverty Action Group says.

Single parents lag even further behind – 20% short each week.

The charity blamed rising prices, freezes in benefits and tax credits, the bedroom tax and Universal Credit for hitting “family budgets hard”.

Chief executive Alison Garnham said: “There is strong public support for government topping up the wages of lowpaid parents and investing in children is the best long-term investment we can make.

“By using the forthcoming Budget to unfreeze benefits and restore work allowances, the Government can take steps towards making work really pay.”

Gains from increased minimum wages had been offset by a freeze in tax credit support, a new report by the charity claimed.

The findings did show an improvement on last year, when the family with an 11% shortfall would have found themselves 13% behind.

The cost for a couple raising a first child until they are 18 fell from £155,100 to £150,800.

A government spokesman said fewer were living in absolute poverty today and ministers were committed to giving every child the best chance.

He said: “Employment is at a near-record high and the national living wage has delivered the highest increase for the lowest paid in 20 years.”