The increasing costs of parenting

Giving your child a head start in life can be expensive.

Statistically speaking, the average cost of raising a child in the UK has gone up by 19% since 2012 for single parent families and 5.5% for couple families. The latest figures estimate that raising a child in the UK from their birth to their 18th birthday costs a single parent £185,036, while couple families stand at £150,582.

While the numbers above include rent and childcare costs, they exclude private education (which can be anywhere between £15k to £45k per year in fees), or any extras you might want your child to benefit from like sports, music lessons, or other extra-curricular activities.

The most recent annual report from CPAG points out that nursery fees for under 2s have increased by 47% while child benefits only saw a mere 3% increase.

Childcare costs unsurprisingly represent almost half of the total amount that parents spend on their kids  - but even once they turn 18 there may be other costs a parent may wish to cover or contribute towards.

If you wish to support your child through higher education, you’re looking at £9,250 per year (for an undergraduate degree). Not to mention living costs, which over a 3 year period can bring the total cost (including tuition fees) up to £70k in London. Whilst a student loan doesn’t work exactly the same way as other forms of debt, repaying it can easily become a daunting prospect to a child if parents cannot help in any way.

For many of us, buying our first home comes with a lot of sacrifice and debt. If you plan on helping your children get a foot on the property ladder, the average home deposit is now around £46k - an amount hard to accumulate for a young adult, especially those paying back student debt.