Family break-ups cost taxpayer £48billion a year in extra welfare and legal costs, report finds
From Mailonline:
Family break-ups are costing the country a record £48 billion a year, a report has found.
The Relationships Foundation think-tank says the price to taxpayers of clearing up the damage from divorce – including the increased welfare bill and education costs of dealing with disturbed children – has risen by £1 billion in the past year and £11 billion since 2009.
It now amounts to £1,820 a year for each taxpayer.
Last night the think-tank called on Chancellor George Osborne to reform the tax and benefits system to provide greater incentives for couples to stay together.
Nearly a third of the £48 billion comes from the £15 billion cost of tax credits and lone parent benefit, with £16 billion for the impact on physical and mental health, the strain on social services and placing children in care.
Some £7 billion goes on legal aid and criminal justice, £7 billion on housing and £3 billion on other costs such as criminal damage carried out by disturbed children.
Michael Trend, of the foundation, said Mr Osborne could no longer ‘ignore the ballooning cost of family breakdown’.
He said: ‘This Government has to confront the issue of family breakdown if it is serious about getting public spending under control.’
High court family judge Sir Paul Coleridge has claimed that families who break up will regret it five years down the line.
The warning follows evidence that more than one in five divorced or estranged people think later that they should have tried to save their marriage.
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