Living wage rise plea for working parents

Couples raising two children while working fulltime on the minimum wage are falling £49 a week short of being able to provide their family with a basic lifestyle, research has found.

The Child Poverty Action Group called for an increase in the so-called national living wage to allow families to have an acceptable standard of living.

Its Cost Of A Child report, published today, showed an 11 per cent weekly shortfall for a couple raising two children at the point they are aged three and seven.

Lone parents come off worse, falling 20 per cent short each week.

The charity blamed rising prices, benefits and tax credit freezes, the bedroom tax and the introduction of universal credit for hitting “family budgets hard”.