Save the Children says welfare cuts hit low-income families

Social security cuts are affecting the daily lives of families with low incomes, according to a Save the Children report published by Yle.

More than 80 per cent of children in the lowest-income families said their household’s financial situation had worsened over the past year, the organisation’s Voice of the Child survey found.

Nearly one in five children who took part said the cuts had affected them or their family. Among children in families with low incomes, about half said they had been affected.

Children from better-off families were more likely than those from families with financial difficulties to say they had good mental health and felt happy.

Save the Children called on the government to assess how the cuts affect children and reverse measures that increase child poverty.

The survey data was collected in two parts. More than 1,000 children aged 9 to 17 responded to a Verian online panel in May. More than 1,000 young people aged 12 to 17 took part in Save the Children’s online survey in April and May.