1 in 4 mothers often worry about being able to afford meeting their children’s needs, finds WBG

 More than a quarter (28%) of mothers are struggling financially to meet their children’s needs, reveals new polling conducted by YouGov for the Women’s Budget Group. This compares to 18% of fathers. The findings also show that mothers are more likely than fathers to see changes to social security as key to improving their financial situation.

The polling has been released together with a new report highlighting that children’s poverty cannot be separated from women’s poverty, arguing that maximising women’s incomes is the most effective way for the Government to meet its aim of tackling child poverty.

Key findings:

• More than 1 in 4 mothers (28%) say they constantly or often worry about whether they can afford to meet their children’s needs, compared to less than 1 in 5 fathers (18%).
• 25% of fathers said they were never worried about being able to afford to meet their children’s needs over the past six months, compared to just 16% of mothers.

Asked what would help their financial situation the most,

• Lower energy costs was the top answer among both mothers (65%) and fathers (63%).
• Changes in benefits such as changing the benefit cap, increasing child benefit etc. ranked second highest on the list of priorities for mothers, with 29% of mothers believing it would make the biggest difference to their current financial situation. This compared to 22% for fathers.
• Mothers were slightly more likely than fathers to say free school meals would help their financial situation (22% compared to 18%).
• Mothers (26%) were also slightly more likely than fathers (23%) to say affordable childcare would help their financial situation.

 Other Demographic highlights

• Parents of larger families (3+ children) were more likely to say they “constantly worried” about affording to meet their children’s needs (16%) than parents in general (10%).
• Single parents were over twice as likely (19%) to say they “constantly worried” about affording to meet their children’s needs than parents living in couples (7%).
• Changes in benefits such as changing the benefit cap, increasing child benefit etc. rank particularly high for parents of very young children (4 or under 4). A third (33%) selected it as making a difference to their financial situation, compared to a quarter (26%) of all parents. Social security also makes a big difference for a third (32%) of parents in larger families (3+ children).
• Free school meals is one of the policy interventions most cited by parents of larger families as making the biggest difference. 37% of parents with 3 children or more said free school meals would make a difference to their financial situation (compared to 20% of all parents).
• A third (32%) of single parents say changes to social security would make a difference to their financial situation, compared to a quarter (24%) of parents in couples.
• Better job centre support is also more important to single parents (13%) than parents in couples (6%).

Policy Recommendations

Based on these findings, the Women’s Budget Group urges the Government’s Child Poverty Taskforce to adopt a holistic approach in their child poverty strategy, and

• increase social security support to ensure adult benefit rates and child rates guarantee an adequate standard of living, and remove punitive measures that are directly linked to child poverty, including the benefit cap and the two-child limit policy;
• tackle barriers to work and women’s disadvantaged position in the labour market by expanding training and upskilling opportunities, while making sure job centres offer support rooted in an understanding of the juggling of care and work single parents in particular have to face;
• bring down the cost of essentials through public provision such as investing in early education and childcare, better and more affordable transport, free school meals and social housing. Particularly important is for the Government to tackle food and energy costs. The latter should be achieved through the introduction of a social tariff and investment in renewables for cheaper bills.

Dr Sara Reis, report author and Deputy Director and Head of Policy and Research at WBG, said,

“Our poll shows how women continue to be the shock absorbers and managers of poverty. Mums are feeling the financial strain more than dads, particularly single mums and those in large families with nearly one fifth of single parents reporting they are constantly worried about meeting their children’s needs. Children are poor because their parents are poor, indeed they are poor because their mothers are poor. If the Government is serious about tackling child poverty, boosting mother’s incomes must be the priority.

“The findings show very clearly that the cost of living crisis is far from over with energy costs being the thing most parents want help with, and while it was encouraging to hear Chancellor Rachel Reeves acknowledge this last week, economic growth alone won’t guarantee more money in families’’ pockets.

“Strengthening workers’ rights and earnings is key, but this must go hand in hand with a strong social security system that ensures families do not fall into unacceptable levels of destitution. Because right now, paid work offers no guaranteed path out of poverty, especially for women who are more likely to work in low-paid and precarious jobs, and to have less access to paid work because they are caring for children and other relatives.

“It is alarming to hear the Prime Minister is planning to ‘slash the benefit bill’, when families are struggling to keep their heads above water. The latest report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation warns that child poverty will rise in most of the country by the end of this parliament unless the Government acts now. Our social security system, alongside essential services like early education and childcare, must do what they are meant to do–support families and children to thrive.

Ruth Lister, Member of the House of Lords, Emeritus Professor, Loughborough University and member of the Women’s Budget Group, commented,

“The good news is that, once again, we have a government that is committed to addressing child poverty. It remains to be seen what the Ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce recommends and whether the necessary funds will be made available to implement the reforms that are needed. What the experience of the last Labour Government shows us is that policy matters and that it is possible to reduce child poverty provided the political will is there. […] We hope that the gendered analysis provided by the report will help the Taskforce in developing the intersectional approach called for by the End Child Poverty Coalition.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

• All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 4476 adults of which UK parents/guardians of children 18 & under was 1123. Fieldwork was undertaken between 27th – 29th January 2025.  The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).
• When referring to mothers and fathers, this also includes female and male guardians respectively.
• To create the category of “single parents”, the categories separated/divorced and never married were added together (this excludes the category ‘widowed’ because it was statistically insignificant). To create the category “couple parents”, the categories married and living as married were combined. To calculate the percentages of these categories, the count for each category was used and then the % for the total counts of the new group counted. E.g. 19% of single parents replied feeling “constantly worried” includes separated (71) + never married (160) = 231 total responses.
• Children’s needs include everything involved in looking after them, from food, clothing, housing, bills, toys, to school supplies.
• All possible answers listed were: 1) Accessing more paid work, 2) Training in a new skill, new profession or being able to refresh skills, 3) Better job centre support, 4) Better transport links to get to paid work, 5) More affordable transport, 6) Affordable childcare / before and after school care, 7) Free School Meals, 8) Affordable good quality housing, 9) lower energy costs, 10) Changes in benefits such as changing the benefit cap, increasing child benefit etc. 11) N.A. nothing would help improve my current financial situation. 12) N.A. I do not need any help to improve my financial situation.
• The full report “Women’s Poverty and Children’s Poverty – Making the links” is available to download here.
• This report has been submitted to the Government’s Ministerial Child Poverty Taskforce to support their work on the Child Poverty Strategy in developing an intersectional approach to child poverty.

WBG spokespeople available for interviews, contact:

Viktoria Szczypior, Senior Press and Media Officer at viktoria.szczypior@wbg.org.uk / press@wbg.org.uk / 07553663144