£186,000 to bring up one child

07 December 2007

Childcare and education costs bump up cost of raising a child

The past five years has seen the cost of raising a child soar by over a third to over £186,000, according to research published today. Figures indicate that the most expensive costs are those surrounding childcare and education.

According to Liverpool Victoria, the typical amount of money needed to bring up a child from birth through to their 21st birthday is £186,032 – the equivalent of £24.30 a day. This cost is even higher in London where a family will, on average, pay £199,860 to raise a child.

Childcare proved to be the largest expense faced by parents, typically costing £50,538 over the years. Education came a close second, costing a further £47,310. This was based on the child attending state primary and secondary schools and covered expenses such as uniforms, lunches, books and extras like school trips, plus 3 years of university tuition fees and living expenses of living away from home.

The news has prompted childcare charities to call on the government to help parents more with childcare costs.

Joint chief executive of the Daycare Trust, Alison Graham, said: “We need to follow the example of some of our European neighbours who typically pay a lower proportion of childcare costs as there if more public funding available to help families.”

Liverpool Victoria found that since it began the research in 2003, the overall cost of bringing up a child to the age of 21 has increased by 33%. It went on to forecast a further 42% increase by 2012 bringing the average cost to £265,577 per child.