The 15th May is the UN day of families. This year’s theme ‘Families, Inequalities and Child Wellbeing’, highlights how growing inequality affects families and the long-lasting impact it can have on children’s outcomes. The day and the theme resonate with our research on the multiple insecurities families in the UK face and the way these impact family and child wellbeing.
Our original study, Insecure Lives (Tunstall et al, 2025) explored how multiple insecurities such as/including the prevalence and felt experience of insecure finances, health, housing, caring, work, advice, local infrastructure and relationships are experienced by families and how these insecurities affect their wellbeing and the wellbeing of children. Our research includes analysis of Understanding Society data alongside image-elicitation interviews with parents living in areas of socio-economic challenge. Our sample included dual-income families, those working and in receipt of benefits and those surviving on benefits alone. The parents we spoke to experienced, on average, five of the eight domains of insecurity, findings that are reflected in the quantitative analysis which indicated higher levels of insecurity for families compared to childless households.
Parents shared how they were experiencing high levels of intersecting insecurities which compounded each other. This included living in damp, overcrowded housing and not being able to afford fuel, food and other essentials vital for their children’s health and development:
“I have to explain to my children what it means to pay rent – they are only 9 and 10. And what it means when mummy says we can’t have this, even if it’s fruit. You know fruit is expensive. So that is really stressful, and I think that it makes you more sick.” (Clara-Louise)
“We sleep together, me and my wife and the two kids in the same bedroom, so it’s a struggle. Struggling with the space, struggling with everything…. if you’re not feeling confident in your house it affects all parts of your life. It affects you in your work, affects your kids learning.” (Adam)
The UN makes the case that families are central to society’s social and economic progress, but in the UK, we have rising levels of poverty and insecurity which will have lasting effects on children’s health, wellbeing and education. A recent report from the Harvard Centre on the Developing Child emphasised the importance of stability in childhood development. It highlighted that if we can reduce insecurity in one area, such as housing, caregiver relationships, or financial security, then this can have a multiplier effect across other aspects of children’s lives, improving their childhoods and opportunities. This was certainly the view of the parents we interviewed. Our participants identified that improving their financial situation would give them some breathing space and enable them to address other aspects of insecurity. As Adam explains, ‘(if) your economics become better, then the other things will be solved, like your housing, your health’.
All our parent participants accessed support from local neighbourhood centres that they trusted and that they felt were safe and non-judgemental of their difficulties. They described how this support helped them to overcome their multiple insecurities, restoring a sense of identity and agency:
“It’s kind of given me a purpose. It gets me out. I feel like I’m doing something constructive and not just a mum. I’m not just a maid, as I feel like at home sometimes. I’m not just a carer for my oldest son who is still dependent on me. It kind of gives me a bit of me time.” (Winnie)
A new report from the Office for National Statistics highlights that from 2026 deaths will, for the first time, outnumber births in the UK. The financial, health, housing and caring struggles described by the parents in our research provide new insights into ‘the parent penalty’, the financial, social and emotional costs of parenthood, which may help to explain how such pressures may influence reproductive choices. However, the challenges that Winnie and parents like her face, are responsive to policy levers. This was illustrated during the pandemic, when protective policies such as the uprating of Universal Credit were introduced. What we need now are joined up government policies that reflect the multiple challenges families in the UK are facing and more investment in the localised support that families trust.
* All names are pseudonyms
Professor Sally Pearse and Professor Helen Lomax are both researchers in the Sheffield Institute of Education
The views expressed in this post are the views of the authors and do not represent the views of the university or its policies.
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