The Cost of Family Breakdown

By Family Matters

Executive Summary

a report from Family Matters, commissioned by the Lords and Commons Family and Child Protection Group

Report Summary

The family in Britain is in crisis. This is acknowledged by commentators across the political and social spectrum. Family breakdown is widespread. Few people do not know someone whose family has been affected by separation, divorce, cohabitation or single parenthood. There were 145,000 divorces in Britain in 1998, affecting just over 150,000 children. Each failed relationship produces pain and emotional hurt, creating an incalculable cost in human misery. The whole of society is affected by the social consequences of family breakdown. Huge financial costs are incurred not only by the individuals concerned, but also by local communities, the taxpayer, and society at large. Family breakdown impairs the health of the nation, reduces the educational achievement of its children, increases the crime rate, places a burden on the national economy and a strain on social relationships at all levels.

Earlier research has quantified the costs of family breakdown in the range £4 billion to £10 billion. This report concludes that these previous estimates significantly understate the actual cost of family breakdown, and estimates that the direct annual costs are nearer to £15 billion, and rising. With indirect costs, the total is much more, quite possibly double that. The direct costs of family breakdown cost each of the UK's 26.2 million tax payers an average of £11 per week. Direct costs of £15 billion equate with about one third of government expenditure on education, just over a quarter of what it spends on the NHS, or almost exactly the combined totals it spends on industry, agriculture and employment, or on housing and the environment. Public money spent tackling the social problems caused by family breakdown could otherwise fund creative social projects which strengthen family life and national unity.

Some of the costs of family breakdown are readily identifiable. The largest is the cost of welfare support and payments for children and parents, amounting to £8.5 billion. There are other less obvious costs, such as Legal Aid; the running costs of the Child Support Agency, special needs schools (disproportionately used by children from broken families), and child psychology services; some of the costs of the criminal justice system, remand centres and prisons; plus additional costs of health due to family breakdown. These can be estimated. Quantifying the lost potential as a result of family breakdown is infinitely more difficult.

As a generalization, the likelihood of adverse outcomes for children from broken families is about twice that from intact families. These children start out in life with a huge man-made handicap. Children whose parents have divorced or whose cohabitation relationship has broken down are increasingly the victims of abuse and neglect. The rate of sexual abuse of girls by their stepfathers is at least six times higher than for girls in intact families than by their biological parents.

Children from broken homes exhibit more health, emotional and behavioural problems; they have higher rates of suicide; and they are more frequently involved in drug abuse and crime. and have higher rates of suicide. Half of young offenders come from broken homes. They also perform badly at school, are less likely to go on to further education and more likely to get low paid jobs. They are twice as likely to suffer divorce or relationship breakdown in adult life than children from intact families.

While the report’s authors believe that marriage has proven through the ages to provide the surest foundations for a stable society and for raising children, the purpose of this report is not to moralise. Our principal purpose is to alert Parliament and the British people to the serious state of affairs which prevails in family life. In particular, we challenge those who are indifferent to, or even contemptuous of, ‘family values’ to acknowledge the massive financial and social costs which society at large is paying – costs which show no sign of diminishing.

If the current trend is to be reversed, many agencies will need to be involved. The churches need to give a clear, unambiguous lead. Government must acknowledge its duty to guide, lead and set the tone. Rather than sit on the fence, government must be prepared to discriminate positively in favour of marriage as an ideal. This report makes a number of recommendations, many of which could be implemented by the government. But ultimately the state of the family in Britain will not improve unless people themselves desire change. A first step towards strengthening family life and protecting children has to be the recognition of the effects of family breakdown, its cost, both financially and in human suffering. What is needed above all is a cultural change at grass roots level, which acknowledges that the traditional family is the very foundation of a stable, prosperous and caring society.

For a copy of the report, comment, or further information, contact Family Matters Institute

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