Single parent households will spend half their wages on just energy bills this year

Some hard-up households will be spending half their income on energy when bills soar, a report out today warns.

Analysis from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found households on low incomes will be spending on average 18% of their income after housing costs on gas and electricity after April.

For single adult households on low incomes this rises to a shocking 54%.

That compares with middle-income households which, the report says, will be spending on average 6% of their incomes on energy.

The figures are released alongside the Foundation’s flagship state-of-the-nation report which reveals a worrying increase in the number of children growing up in very deep poverty.

It found around 1.8 million children faced this plight, meaning their household’s income is so low that it is “completely inadequate” to cover the basics.

The figure rose by half a million children between 2011/12 and 2019/20.

Are you worried about the rising cost of living? Tell us how it affects you: emma.munbodh@mirror.co.uk

There has been a worrying rise in the number of children growing up in very deep poverty (Getty Images)

Katie Schmuecker, the Foundation’s deputy director of policy and partnerships, said: “No childhood should be defined by a daily struggle to afford the basics.

“But the reality is that many children growing up today won’t have known anything else.

“The fact that more children are in poverty and sinking deeper into poverty should shame us all.”

She added: “Rising energy prices will affect us all, but our analysis shows they have the potential to devastate the budgets of families on the lowest incomes.

“The Government cannot stand by and allow the rising cost of living to knock people off their feet. “The alarm is sounding loud and clear and the case for targeted support to help people on the lowest incomes could not be clearer.”

Imran Hussain, director of policy and campaigns at Action for Children, said: “Low-income families are enduring a miserable winter of cuts to Universal Credit, soaring energy bills and the prospect of yet more price rises.

“Families with children are among the hardest hit by this crisis as they typically face bigger bills, have smaller savings and are less able to take on extra work.”