The cost of bringing up a child from birth to the age of 21 has increased by close to £2,000 during the last 12 months, to almost £230,000.
The increase is chiefly due to the increased cost of childcare, according to a report for insurers, LV=, which was based upon figures from the Centre of Economic and Business Research. The report found that parents have to pay an average of £67,000 for each child for childcare during the 21 year period, a dramatic 70 per cent increase since 2013.
The second largest increase was in the cost of education. Parents pay an average £74,319 on uniform, lunches, school trips and university fees. The figure does not include private education and has increased by 128 per cent in the past 24 months.
The only cost to have dropped during the last year is that of clothing. Pocket money, food, toys and holiday costs have all increased. As a result, the study concluded, parents are spending as much as a third of their annual income on their children.
Myles Rix, LV =’s managing director of protection, said that having children is more expensive than it has ever been.
Findababysitter.com published its annual childcare report in January, showing that one in four of all unemployed mothers would like to work but is put off by the high costs of childcare.
Four out of every ten parents have reduced their routine spending in order to pay their bills, the report said, whilst ten per cent of parents said that they had postponed having more children because of the high costs.
In March 2014, the government announced a number of moves designed to help parents with childcare costs, such as a new childcare voucher scheme that will come into effect later this year.
