New research shows that UK families raising disabled, or seriously ill, children and young people are now facing serious financial jeopardy and struggling to survive, due to the scale of the cost-of-living crisis.
4,264 families with a disabled child or seriously ill child were polled to find that nine in 10 families are struggling, or falling behind on their regular household bills and many are forced to forego living essentials such as food, heating, basic furniture like beds, flooring, washing machines and fridges, to try to make ends meet.
Over half of parents and carers report skipping or cutting the size of their meals because there wasn’t enough money for food and more than one in ten say they’ve had to cut back on essential items for their disabled children.
Four in five are in debt, with rising debt levels for two in five familiespolled, and over 40% report they can’t afford to keep accommodation warm – a 13% increase since last December. One in five families report taking on more credit to keep up with existing credit commitments
The new report highlights the, now, unsustainable strain on families raising disabled and seriously ill children and young people, as they try to cover sky-high costs on top of severely reduced incomes due to intense caring responsibilities, three times higher costs to look after a disabled child and critical levels of debt.
Cheryl Ward, Family Fund Chief Executive commented on the report:
“The outlook for families raising a disabled, or seriously ill, child is now graver than ever. They are unsure how to cope with ever-rising caring costs with winter approaching, they are having to borrow more credit to pay for intense levels of debt and feeling more isolated than ever, with worsening mental and physical health.
“These are families on the lowest of incomes, due to caring for their children round-the-clock and having far-reduced available support services, post-pandemic.
