Research reveals families are too indebted to look after children during summer holidays

Parents fear they could fall into a debt spiral as a result of looking after their children during the summer holidays, a recent survey has shown.

Over a third of parents questioned admitted that they feared debt problems, with one in seven saying they will be more than £500 in the red by the time the holidays are over.

The research carried out by YouGov on behalf of the Elizabeth Finn Care charity, also revealed that one in three families can’t afford a summer holiday this year – with 11% planning their family holiday during term time as it’s cheaper.

The survey questioned nearly 5,000 parents during the latter part of May – a month before the first coalition budget was announced.

The results, published in the wake of what has been dubbed the ‘budget from hell’, make even harder reading than before, as child benefit is now set to be frozen for the next three years.

As of 2011, George Osborne’s first budget also includes benefit cuts for those families with a combined income of over £40,000. More worrying still, as of 2012/2013, some families with combined incomes as low as £25,000 are set to see a reduction in benefit.

Additionally, payments for a family with one child will fall from £545 to £460.

Other alarming results revealed from the YouGov research include some 16% of parents saying that they will use their credit card to cover the cost of the summer holidays; 14% saying they will rely on their overdraft and 8% saying they will need to borrow from family members.

Worryingly, 1% of those questioned said they would even borrow the money from an illegal doorstep lender offering ‘quick fix’ loans – and risk owing huge amounts of interest.

Commenting on the survey, Matthew Sykes, Chief Executive of Elizabeth Finn Care: “We know that £16.8 billion of welfare benefits went unclaimed from 2007-2008 (source: DWP and HMRC) and for those in genuine financial need they can visit our website, Turn2us, to see what benefits they are entitled to and see if they are eligible for grants from one of the thousands of grant-giving charities listed.”

Source: debtmanagementtoday.co.uk