After-school clubs cut ‘to pay for family essentials’

Families are sacrificing swimming lessons to make ends meet because of rising costs, research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has found.

The study says that working families with children are facing bigger shortfalls in their household budgets this year. After-school clubs and swimming lessons are likely to be sacrificed so people can pay for essentials, said a report by the social policy and research charity. An average two-children family, with one breadwinner and one not working, is £120 a week short of reaching a minimum income standard, up by £17 a week from 2016, the report said.