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Low-income parents on the brink of a 'financial family crisis'

Parents earning the minimum wage are on the 'brink of a new crisis in family finances' that will leave many stranded when meeting no-frills costs, warns a new report.

Now in its fourth year, ‘The Cost of a Child’ by Loughborough University for the Child Poverty Action Group, examines the costs associated with raising children.

According to the 2015 report, the minimum cost of raising a child from birth to age 18 has risen by five per cent since 2012 to £149,805.

The calculation is made using the 'minimum income standard' for he UK, which is drawn on research with members of the public about what they think the  goods and services a family would need in order to reach a minimum acceptable standard of living. They include basic costs, such as food, clothing and heating bills and other items, such as buying birthday presents and taking a week’s self-catering holiday in the UK once a year.

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