CAMPAIGNERS have warned that poverty is "grinding down" family life across Scotland, with many unable to afford basic necessities ranging from heating their home to educational school trips.

While much focus has been on the desperation of those who have to resort to foodbanks to eat, charities say such handouts are only the "tip of the iceberg" when it comes to the grim experience of having to survive living on a low income or on benefits.

Research currently being carried out by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland to find out the impact of welfare changes on families has uncovered examples of parents unable to afford basics such as hot water to bathe their children.

One mother-of-three who was interviewed for the project, identified only as Jennifer, said: "There's been times with my kids when I've went to bed and said, 'See tonight, we'll light candles, and we'll get our books in bed'. And it's because I've no electric - it's crazy. And when I've run out of gas, and there's no hot water, we'll be boiling kettles for the bath."

Another parent, George from Edinburgh, who earns around £15,000 a year, said he struggled to pay for school costs such as ingredients for home economics classes for his children, and his children often had to miss out on experiences such as school trips.

He said: "They made out they were all right about it but they were more gutted when their pals come back and started telling them the stories of things they got up to and things like that and they weren't able to go."

John Dickie, director of CPAG in Scotland, said: "The shocking growth in the number of parents having to resort to foodbanks is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of how poverty is grinding down family life across Scotland. Children are missing out on school trips and activities because parents can't afford the extra costs, parents' mental health is suffering with the stress and strains of trying to protect their children from poverty and too often families are sitting in the cold because they can't afford to keep the heating on.

"It's vital that the UK Government reverses tax and benefit policies that are slashing the incomes of the poorest to provide tax breaks for the well off, but more needs to be done at every level of government to promote a living wage and cut the costs of school, childcare, energy and housing that are such a drain on family resources."

According to estimates published last month by auditors KPMG, more than 400,000 workers in Scotland are still being paid less than the "living wage" of £7.65 an hour, which is calculated as the earnings required to cover the basic costs of living.

Since KPMG's report, the living wage, which is recalculated each year, has risen to £7.85 an hour but the national minimum wage, which employers are legally obliged to meet, is £6.50 an hour for over-21s.

Last week, Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck raised concerns that people are having to hold DIY funerals and bury their loved ones in the back garden because they could not afford rising funeral costs.

Peter Kelly, director of the Poverty Alliance, described this as an extreme example, but added that many people were struggling with the "grinding nature of a low income". He said: "People talk to us about that issue all the time. It is not going to foodbanks but it is skipping meals, it is never going for weekends away, it is never taking part in social activities.

"It is all those little things that actually make up what is for most people a decent life."

Keith Dryburgh, policy manager of Citizens Advice Scotland, pointed out that those struggling included people working on low wages or zero-hour contracts, as well as benefit claimants.

He said: "Foodbanks get a lot of publicity - and understandably so. But they are just one of the distressing signs that people are struggling in real poverty.

"Citizens Advice Bureau staff regularly see other signs, like people who are choosing to skip meals for themselves in order to feed their children, or families making choices of whether to have dinner or switch on the heating.

"For many families the idea of a summer holiday is a pipe dream, and thousands of parents are having to buy only cheap presents this Christmas."

He added: "These real-life consequences of poverty are deeply distressing. What is often overlooked is the health implications.

It is not just physical health - although if people are going without food or eating cheap or out-of-date food that is a concern.

"But this kind of poverty also saps the spirit and causes real despair as well as shame."