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Cost of raising children sees sharp increase
10 November, 2006
The cost of raising a child from birth up until the age of 21 could cost as much as £180,137 a recent survey has shown.
The overall expenditure has grown by 28 per cent over the last 4 years and shows a whopping 9 per cent increase on last year’s statistic, meaning that the total cost of raising a child in the UK is now rising faster than the domestic housing market.
Childcare and education amount for the majority of this sum and almost two thirds of UK parents both have to now work full time in order to support their child. This is clearly becoming a real worry for parents, with 48 per cent voicing concern over the sheer amounts of time they are spending away from the very child or children they are working to provide for.
Parents are continually making sacrifices in order to better manage the costs of raising a family. Over two thirds have had to put savings and financial planning on hold and more and more parents are calling on other family members for support such as the school run and looking after their children when they are taken ill.
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The price of a child’s education is also continuting to sky rocket and the introduction of tuition fees has meant that the cost of attending university now stands at a back-breaking £32,478. Parents who are wishing to put their children through private secondary education are also looking at an additional £71,050 for a day pupil and up to £130,450 for a boarder.
This means that the university years, should the child not attend a private school, are the most expensive at an average annual cost of £12,153, followed by the ages of 6 and 11 which weigh in at an average of £9,468 a year. The first year of a child’s life is also a hefty strain on the purse strings, not to mention the sleeping patterns, and can cost new parents £7,867 alone.
Parents in Inner London will spend the most on raising a child, followed by Outer London and the South East. Wales is the cheapest place to raise a child, followed by the East Midlands and the North East.
Raising a family requires very careful financial planning and people need to be more switched on about their finances than ever before when supporting a growing child. Putting regular money aside is a good way of helping with the costs and the best way to decide what is right for you is to consult an IFA who can offer specific, impartial advice.
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