Family breakdown in Britain cost tax-payers £41 billion a year according to a new report.

Over £12bn is accounted for by tax and benefits payments to broken families and another £8bn by civil and criminal justice spending.

The study was produced by the Relationships Foundation. The cost per tax-payer is £1,350 a year..

Executive Director of the Relationships Foundation, Michael Trend, said: “This report deals with the unpopular truth that choices have costs and consequences, and that these are not always borne by the choice-maker.”

He said that “reduced health, wealth and wellbeing all put more pressure on relationships making the cycle of breakdown more likely to continue”.

A poll for The Times newspaper showed 70 per cent of respondents believed society is now broken.

The Conservative Party in Britain under David Cameron has called attention to the extent and cost of family breakdown in Britain, especially to the poor. Poverty and family breakdown are closely related and help to cause each other.

The Centre for Social Justice, headed by former Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, has produced report highlighting the social and economic costs of family breakdown and the decline of marriage.