than 3% of cases.  As was the case for their mothers and fathers, the top item that children have done without when money was scarce is a holiday or school trip (see Table 22) with pocket money and a hobby, sport or toys in second and third positions respectively.   These findings offer strong evidence to indicate that mothers, in particular, and parents in general, consistently do without themselves in order to ensure that their children are shielded from the worst effects of poverty.

8.6 Incidence of arrears in regular bills

Question 33 of the survey aimed to investigate the situation in relation to household debt by asking if, during the past year, participants were seriously behind with regular bills, such as rent, mortgage or electricity.  Thirty per cent of the current sample responded that they had been behind with one or more bills - the telephone bill coming out on top of the list (see Table 23).  Electricity and rent were the next most commonly mentioned bills - the mortgage was the only bill not mentioned at all.   Worryingly, almost half the women who had been in arrears during the previous year were behind with three or more bills.