THE TUC called for more money in the pockets of working families today after it emerged that Britain’s poorest are paying up to £5,600 more a year due to the cost-of-living crisis.

Large families on low incomes have been hit the hardest by the rising costs, a Save the Children study found.

Its analysis of government statistics found the poorest third of families on incomes roughly £24,000 a year or less were forking out between £3,000 and £5,600 more this year than in 2019-20.

The shortfalls rise dramatically when housing costs are considered with many left struggling to buy the goods and services they could afford before the pandemic, the charity said.

It comes as separate analysis by TUC found pay rises for the top 10 per cent of earners were far higher than for the rest of the workforce.

The union body criticised the Bank of England for recently suggesting the country’s inflation crisis was being driven by demands by low and middle-earners for better pay.

TUC head of economics Nicola Smith told the Morning Star: “Millions of families are struggling in this cost-of-living crisis. And as usual it’s the lowest-paid who have been hit hardest.

“After the longest wage squeeze in 200 years we urgently need to get more money in the pockets of working families and start our economy growing again.

“That means decent wages for all workers — not just the top 10 per cent.

“Working people shouldn’t be asked to take the blame for the government’s economic mess.” 

Save the Children said: “The UK government needs to do more to protect families from poverty and provide a level of support that matches families’ circumstances.

“Children have not been adequately considered by successive governments, who have implemented policies which unfairly penalise children, like the two-child limit and the benefit cap.

“The last few years have seen two major national crises which have pushed families to the brink.

“Coupled with years of underfunding and cuts to social security levels, this means that parents are struggling to provide their children with the things they need for a happy, full childhood.”

Becca Lyon, head of child poverty at the charity, added: “This is the most significant research we’ve ever done on family budgets and the results are worse than we had imagined.”

The Institute for Public Policy Research was commissioned by the charity to compare pre-pandemic spending among low-income families with children.

The think tank’s analysis of Living Cost and Food Survey data from the Office for National Statistics, found low-income families had budget shortfalls of between £200 and £1,400 per year on average, excluding housing costs.

A single parent with one child on average needs to spend an additional £3,100 in 2023-24 to get the same basket of goods and services they would have bought in 2019-20, the report said, rising to almost £5,600 — or more than £100 per week — for a couple with three children.

Struggling households received more bad news last week after it was revealed that inflation in May failed to fall as was predicted by experts, leading to the Bank of England to hike interest rates.

Yesterday Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was branded a “mendacious narcissistic sociopath” by comedian Ben Elton after insisting there was “no alternative” to interest rate hikes to stamp out inflation.

Mr Elton, speaking on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, also criticised the PM for insisting that he demonstrated his integrity when he resigned from Boris Johnson’s government and defended his decision to skip a Commons vote on the privileges committee report that found his predecessor had lied to Parliament with his “partygate” lockdown denials.

Mr Elton said Mr Sunak had delivered an “extraordinary Orwellian, meaningless, evasive word salad.

“I sort of believed maybe he’s kind of a bit more decent, and it turns out, he’s as much of a mendacious, narcissistic sociopath as his previous boss,” he said.

The DWP said the government is providing record financial support for households.