Half (49%) of parents are confused by the array of state benefits available to them, and many don\u2019t claim them even though they are eligible according to figures from LV=\u2019s 13th Cost of a Child study.<\/p>\n
All parents qualify for Child Benefit unless they (or, if a couple, one of them) have income of over \u00a360,000 a year and they have a child aged under 16 (or under 20 if in full time education).. Based on income levels, three quarters (76%) of parents are eligible for this benefit, but only six in ten (61%) claim it. Child Benefit provides parents with up to \u00a31,076 a year for the first child, so with the cost of raising a child now averaging more than \u00a311,000 a year it could offer families significant support.<\/p>\n
Greater clarity<\/strong> With previous research showing that six in ten (60%) parents are struggling with their finances, LV= has asked the Government to make the rules around state benefits clearer so parents can understand what support they are entitled to and how to claim. They also want the Government to provide greater clarity on how other arrangements \u2013 such as private insurance \u2013 can complement state benefits, so those who choose to protect their income themselves aren\u2019t disadvantaged.<\/p>\n Financial safety net<\/strong> Source:<\/strong> Families could be missing out on thousands Half (49%) of parents are confused by the array of state benefits available to them, and many don\u2019t claim them even though they are eligible according to figures from LV=\u2019s 13th Cost of a Child study.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vizionwealth.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vizionwealth.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vizionwealth.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vizionwealth.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vizionwealth.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vizionwealth.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vizionwealth.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vizionwealth.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vizionwealth.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe study also found that a third (32%) of parents would need to rely on state benefits if the main breadwinner was unable to work due to illness or injury, but three in ten (28%) say they wouldn\u2019t know how to claim Employment and Support Allowance.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s worrying that so many parents are confused by the system and aren\u2019t taking advantage of the support they\u2019re entitled to. We urge parents to think about putting a financial safety net in place to help them if they\u2019re unable to work; while state benefits are important, they are not guaranteed and often only provide the most basic support.<\/p>\n
\nAccording to further ONS data, there are 28.9 million families with dependent children in the UK \u2013 as 49% of parents are confused by state benefits, this would imply that at least 14.5 million parents are confused (as each family will have at least one parent).
\nCost of a child calculations, from birth to 21 years, were compiled by the Centre of Economic and Business Research (CEBR) for LV= in December 2015 and are based on the cost for the 21-year period to December 2015.
\nAdditional research was conducted by Opinium Research from 22\u201327 January 2016. The total sample size was 1,000 UK adults with children under the age of 18 and was conducted online. Results have been weighted to a nationally representative criteria.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"