Poll: Is the minimum wage sufficient to live off?

The Cost of a Child in 2014, published today by Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), found the shortfall for out-of-work families was even starker - standing at 43%.

Its author Donald Hirsch said the evidence showed "unequivocally" that families had found it progressively harder to make ends meet.

Mr Hirsch, who is director of the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, went on: "The forecast increase in wages in the next few years should help, but may not reverse this trend for the worst-off working families.

"This is because the support they get from the state will continue to decline in real terms. So if items such as food, social housing and childcare continue to become more expensive, it is unlikely that these families' overall incomes will keep up."

The findings show - excluding childcare, rent and council tax costs - that the basic cost of raising a child for a couple is £88.84 per week, a 4.3% rise since 2012. For a lone parent, the basic cost of raising a child is £103.53 a week, a 9.7% rise since 2012.

Including childcare, rent and council tax costs, the amount rises to £164.19 per week for a couple, a 7.7% rise since 2012. For a lone parent, the figure is £184.50 per week, an increase of 11.4% since 2012.

According to the report, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the cost of childcare - the most expensive item purchased by many families with small children - jumped up by 42% between 2008-2014, over twice the official inflation rate.

It also found that families in which all parents work full time on the national minimum wage now have only 82%, in the case of couples, or 87%, in the case of lone parents, of the minimum income required to meet their needs.

Families receiving out-of-work benefits face even greater shortfalls of income. They receive only 57%, in the case of couples, or 60%, in the case of lone parents, of the income required to meet basic needs.