A report from the Centre for Social Justice, to be published this week, says that at least 1 million children are growing up without a father, and that the number of families being brought up by lone parents will have reached 2 million by the time of the next general election.
The report sets out the cost in financial terms, not only to families, but also to the tax payer, of child poverty, quoting a figure of £1,541 for every tax payer in the country.
The Government, the report says, is doing nothing to stem the “epidemic of family breakdown” in a world of surging divorce rates, and lack of support for lone parents.
Some of the statistics have been criticised by other organisations, who point out that the divorce rate has barely changed in the last 10 years. But it is interesting that the cost to this issue is not far off the quoted figure of £2,000 per household of the costs so far of the Afghan war.
It is also all the more difficult for fathers to establish contact with their children, as since April 2013 legal aid is no longer available for them to apply to the Court for contact unless they can show that they are themselves the victim of domestic abuse.
The cost to the State of family breakdown was highlighted by the Law Society in their representations to the Government about the cuts in legal aid. Those representations have so far been ignored.
The report should be available at the CSJ website: www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk