Three quarters of 11–21-year-olds fear parents' cashflow crisis will mean anxious family Christmas

As the country gets set for the festive season, new Action for Children research shows the cost of living crisis is far from over and continuing to take its toll on millions of families with children, particularly those on the breadline.

To support its annual Secret Santa campaign to help the country’s most vulnerable children, the charity commissioned surveys with nearly 3,000 UK children and young people aged 11-21, and over 100 of its frontline staff, to explore the financial pressures facing families with children in the run up to Christmas.

The research found large numbers of the children and young people polled are acutely aware of their parents’ or carers’ concerns about money, with three quarters (75%) feeling those worries will make this Christmas an anxious time[1]. The survey of 11-21-year-olds also found:

• Seven in ten (69%) think it’s likely their parents will have to sacrifice something important or special for themselves over the Christmas holidays to make sure they receive presents;
• More than a third (35%) think their family will be worse off financially this Christmas compared to last year; and
• Around a fifth worry their parents won’t have enough money to pay household bills (21%) or keep their house warm (18%).

Many were also concerned about the hardship facing children or young people they know in their school or peer group with:

• A third (33%) worried about a family they know who wouldn’t be able to afford Christmas presents;
• A quarter (26%) worried about a family who wouldn’t have the money to travel to visit their family over Christmas or buy a Christmas dinner (25%); and
• More than a fifth (22%) were worried about a family who wouldn’t be able to pay for a Christmas tree to decorate.

The cost-of-living crisis continues to be felt hardest by low-income families with children. The proportion of 11-21-year-olds who felt their parents would be anxious because of money worries, have to sacrifice something special for themselves, be unable to afford presents, a Christmas dinner or keep their house warm, was on average 14 percentage points higher for those living in families receiving Universal Credit.

Action for Children also surveyed its own frontline workers who increasingly have to provide poverty relief to low-income families before any other support. Of the 114 staff:

• Eight in ten (79%) said they’re currently supporting a child, young person, or family experiencing poverty or extreme financial hardship – up from seven in ten (69%) in 2023 and 2022).
• Three quarters (76%) said the current financial pressures on the children, young people, and families they support are worse than last year.
• 42% say that food costs have are the biggest financial concern among the families or young people they support, followed by energy bills (21%).

This year, food costs overtook energy bills as the biggest financial concern among the families the charity helps (energy bills were cited as the top reason by 30% of staff in 2023 and 45% in 2022).

Many of its frontline workers provided stark examples of the hardship facing families they were supporting, including:

• Children off school because their parents couldn’t afford new shoes, other children with holes in their shoes, or wearing shoes too small for them;
• A mum limiting her own food intake to one snack a day and her children’s leftovers;
• A child ‘always’ suffering from colds living in a flat with no flooring on bare concrete floors; and
• A lone mum unable to work due to a recent cancer diagnosis ‘very distressed as she couldn’t afford basic food’ for her children.

Paul Carberry, chief executive at Action for Children, said: ‘It’s easy to think that poverty happens elsewhere, but as our research shows the cost of living crisis is still very real for millions of families and continues to impoverish children in every community.

‘Our frontline workers are supporting children every day: we’ve seen children without a bed sleeping on the floor with just blankets, and families phoning us in tears because they have no money to feed their children. It’s relentless, and it doesn’t stop because it’s Christmas.

‘Until every family has enough money to keep their child warm and well fed, we will continue to help them. That’s why we’re asking the public to get behind our Secret Santa campaign to help us support our most vulnerable children, not just at Christmas but every day.’

To become a Secret Santa and donate to Action for Children visit iamsanta.org.uk