Families with disabled children are struggling with soaring cost of living and some families are going without basic food and heating. These are the findings of Counting the Costs, a survey and report from Contact a Family, the charity for families with disabled children.

Key findings include:

• One in six disabled children lives in a household struggling to afford food and heating
• Almost half of families have borrowed money from friends and family, with one in five using the cash to pay their heating bills
• One in 14 children with a disability or medical condition is living under threat of losing their home.

Contact a Family surveyed almost 800 parent carers in the UK about their financial situation in the current economic crisis.

Srabani Sen, Chief Executive of Contact a Family, said: "Our survey findings paint a shocking picture of what these often vulnerable families are experiencing. It isn’t right that in the UK today, families can’t afford life’s essentials.

"Everyone is feeling the pinch. But it costs three times as much to raise a disabled child and as our survey shows, this is putting incredible pressure on these families just to survive in the worsening economic climate."

Fiona Birks mum to James who has Asperger’s, OCD and Agoraphobia, said: "James is obsessed about things being contaminated so we have the washing machine on two times a day. And whatever the weather, he likes to have the fans on because he finds the motion relaxing. Consequently the electricity bills are sky high and a huge proportion of my income goes towards paying them. We’re constantly struggling to keep afloat financially and currently in arrears with utility bills. With prices rising all the time, I’m worried for the future."

As the housing market slumps across the UK, 18% of families with a disabled child are struggling with mortgage and rent payments and have been in arrears in the last 12 months. To make ends meet a quarter of families have approached charities for financial help and one in four has taken out a loan.

Srabani Sen added: "This is a crisis situation for many, but disabled children and their families are at greater risk of poverty and less equipped to cope with soaring living costs. The government needs to act now to ensure disability benefits meet the true cost of raising a disabled child and ensure these families don’t face homelessness."

For families concerned about their finances telephone Contact a Family’s freephone helpline 0808 808 3555.

• Download the full report