Cost of living crisis: How families are being hit hardest with 13% inflation

Households with dependent children face rising costs that far outstrip the national average, writes Kate Hughes

The cost of food has increased by 9.3% in the past year (EPA)

Families with children are grappling with price rises of £400 a month for basic items including food, rent and heating, experts have warned, as social security rates fall to a 40-year low.

New research from the poverty charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) and Loughborough University shows inflation being felt soonest and hardest by those on the lowest incomes, who spend a higher proportion of their incomes on essential items.

The pressures on budgets are being driven by rising costs for core necessities, including fuel, which has more than doubled in cost in the past year, food (up by 9.3 per cent), childcare (up by 6.7 per cent), motoring and other travel costs.