A quarter of children of working parents are planning to offer up their gift or pocket money to help their parents cover costs over Christmas, research has suggested.
It comes as one in five working parents surveyed for Action for Children said they are worried they will not be able to afford presents.
Those supported by the charity include a family forced to pawn their electricals to buy food for the children and a child without a bed sleeping on blankets, it said.
One little girl told a worker she is not asking for anything from Santa this year because it would make her mother “too sad”.
Action for Children said that as a charity that delivers children’s services, it is instead increasingly having to provide emergency relief to families as the cost-of-living crisis deepens.
It is launching its annual Secret Santa campaign where the public can donate funds to give vulnerable children gifts such as Christmas presents, trips to the pantomime, warm winter clothes and food.
To mark the launch, it commissioned Savanta ComRes to survey 2,732 working parents and their children (2,732 children aged eight to 17) in November across the UK.
It found 26% of child respondents who receive pocket money or money for their birthday or Christmas from other family members said they will offer this to their parents to help them pay for things this Christmas.
A further 34% responded “maybe” when asked.
The poll also found 20% of parents were worried they will not be able to afford presents while 26% were worried about affording Christmas essentials such as food and a tree.
More than half of the parents surveyed (53%) said they have worried often about money over the past six months, experiencing trouble sleeping, worsening mental health and becoming upset or stressed in front of their children.
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