One in five families cutting back on food due to tighter cost of living

ONE FIFTH OF parents say they or their children had to go without or cut back on food because the cost of living is so tight.

A new report by children’s charity Barnardos has also found that more families are skipping meals (44%, up from 40% a year ago) due financial pressures.

The charity is launching its Cost of Living – Impact on Children 2026 findings, the latest in its five-year monitoring of the impact of cost of living increases on families.

It has urged the government to set up targeted actions to protect families and reduce child poverty.

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“If the Government is going to have any chance in achieving their new ambitious child poverty target by 2030 and pull children out of deprivation, increased supports, particularly for those most at risk, need to be put in place,” Barnardos said.

The report said that one-parent families are twice as likely to experience impact of costs, at 32% compared to 17%, while it also showed pressures caused by rising energy costs.

More than one third of families (36%) went into arrears on energy bills at some point over the past 12 months. This was an increase of 4% compared to 2025.

Soaring costs have also seen one in five parents said that they had to go without or cut back on heating, a slight increase on the 18% seen last year.

To source its findings, Barnardos commissioned Amárach Research to carry out a survey with 1,000 parents/guardians with children aged under 18 in their care in May.

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