MYTHS ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY 2: “IT’S POSSIBLE TO LEAD A LAVISH LIFESTYLE BY CHOOSING NOT WORK AND HAVE MORE CHILDREN”

It seems unlikely that large numbers of parents are choosing to remain out-of-work and to have more children to fund a ‘lavish lifestyle’:

Families with 3 or more children are more likely to be in poverty than those with 1 or 2 children (35% of children in families with three of more children are in poverty, compared to around a quarter of children in smaller families).

Rather than living ‘lavish’ lifestyles, out-of-work families with 3 or more children are less likely to able to afford a basic standard of living.

An out-of-work couple family with 3 children (with typical housing costs) is likely to be around £215 a week short of what they need to meet minimum living standards (a similar family with 1 child is £171 a week short, and a similar family with two children is £179 a week short).

An out-of-work single parent with 3 children (with typical housing costs) is likely to be around £271 a week short of what they need to meet minimum living standards (a similar family with 1 child is £193 a week short, and a similar family with two children is £230 a week short).

It is clear that the amount of extra support provided to families who have an additional child doesn’t sufficiently meet their additional financial needs. According to a recent Joseph Rowntree Foundation report:

Having children leaves adults on benefits worse off. Additional state support for families with children is lower than a child’s minimum needs.

Child Benefit meets only 20% of childhood costs on average for out-of-work couple families and just 18% for out-of-work single parent families. Child Benefit has been frozen since 2010 and will have lost 10% of its value by 2014.