The Smith Family highlights the pressure on low-income families.

 

Nine in 10 families are worried about affording back-to-school essentials as inflation continues to bite, according to a research study conducted by The Smith Family.

 

The annual survey interviewed more than 1100 lower-income parents and carers whose children are supported by The Smith Family.

 

It was the third consecutive year more than 80 per cent of families surveyed said they couldn’t afford school items, echoing Curtin University’s child poverty report, released late last year, which found an additional 102,000 children fell into poverty during and after the Covid period between 2020 and 2023.

 

More than half (56 per cent) of those surveyed thought their children would miss out on necessary digital devices because they couldn’t afford them.

 

The Smith Family has distributed 14,000 laptops to families in the past seven years, but 44 per cent, or 400,000 students, still aren’t digitally included – meaning they have no internet access at home.

 

Meantime, Officeworks has launched its annual Back to School Appeal on behalf of The Smith Family, aiming to raise $1 million to support more than 1400 students experiencing disadvantage across Australia.

 

According to Officeworks, one in six Australian children are at risk of missing out on basic school supplies.