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

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

More than a quarter 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 one in four mothers (28%) say they constantly or often worry about whether they can afford to meet their children’s needs, compared to less than one in five 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 selected it as making a difference to their financial situation, compared to a quarter of all parents. Social security also makes a big difference for a third 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 three children or more said free school meals would make a difference to their financial situation (compared to 20% of all parents).
• A third of single parents say changes to social security would make a difference to their financial situation, compared to a quarter 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 handwith 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.”

The full report Women’s Poverty and Children’s Poverty – Making the links is available to download here. The UK Women’s Budget Group is the UK’s leading feminist economics think tank, providing evidence and analysis on women’s economic position and proposing policy alternatives for a gender-equal economy. It acts as a link between academia, the women’s voluntary sector and progressive economic think tanks.

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