The cost of raising a child has more than doubled over the last decade – and London is the most expensive in the UK

Bringing up a child to age 21 costs an average of £227,000 in the UK – an increase of £2,000 compared to last year.

 

The figures, released by insurance firm LV=, also show that the cost is more than two-thirds higher than 10 years ago. This means that almost a third (28 per cent) of what most parents earn now goes towards raising just one child. 

 

Four out of 10 parents have been cutting spend on toys and food over the past year, but this has not been enough to offset increases in education and childcare costs. One in five parents said the increasing costs of raising a family meant they had to postpone having more children. 

 

The biggest financial burden was education, which costs on average £74,319 per child – this is a 1.3 per cent increase from last year. This did not include private school fees but did include cost of school uniforms, school trips and lunch. Combined with university fees, these together went up by 128 per cent since 2013. 

 

The largest rise, however, was in childcare and babysitting costs – these were estimated to be £66,113, which is a 3.7 per cent increase from 2013. 

 

Of all the areas in the UK, London is unsurprisingly the most expensive, followed by the South East. Wales is the least expensive, followed closely by the North East and Yorkshire & Humberside.

 

 

Mark Jones, head of protection at LV= said: