This. But empathy won't change anything. It's frustrating how many people 'just want to have a moan' or have people agree with them that 'it's the government's fault' yet don't seem to want to do anything constructive even when, going by the information posted, it's very likely that they could improve their finances by a noticeable amount.
Because, for the majority of people, excluding those who's income won't even cover their essential costs and those who have so much money they could spend endlessly without running out of money, in many cases, the biggest difference in how far their money goes is how they manage it because there's significant savings to be gained by shopping around and tweaking what you buy. In many cases, it can be literally hundreds of pounds a month, with little noticeable difference in quality of life.
OP, you say you're both in 'professional fairly well paid jobs, and yet we just about scrape through every month with little in the way of treats or fun money', which doesn't really sound likely given that your DC are old enough to be past the age where childcare takes all your money.
I'd guess that you do have you 'treats and fun money' and it's going on things like living in a nice house in a nice area, lunches and coffees at work, an above average grocery budget, car leases, utility, mobile and broadband bills that are higher than they need to be, activities for DC, etc etc.
On the off chance you do want to do something constructive, have a look at:
rofessional fairly well paid jobs, and yet we just about scrape through every month with little in the way of treats or fun money.