The parent premium

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Updated: 05:06 EST, 7 December 2005

THE cost of raising a child has risen by almost a fifth in two years, researchers said yesterday.

Parents are spending an average of £165,668 on bringing up each of their children - the average price of a house in parts of the UK.

The figure is 18% higher than in 2003 and an 8% rise on last year. The annual Cost of a Child survey found that parents fork out £657 each month, or £22 a day, on their children until they reach 21.

Commentators say one reason for the rise is the ever-growing cost of putting children through university.

In addition, more mothers are going back to work earlier - which is increasing the cost of childcare in the early years.

The survey found children were most expensive between the ages of 19 and 21, when many go to university. Parents spend £35,088, or £11,696 each year, on children of this age.

They are at their cheapest between 12 and 18, when the average annual cost is £5,720. A baby will have cost its parents around £7,716 by the time it reaches its first birthday.

Each year, £119bn is spent on raising children in the UK. The survey found that the average household spends £37,142 on a child's education, of which £25,572 goes on university.

The figures assume your child has a state education. Naturally, educating a child at private school raises the cost further - by an average of £78,430 for day pupils and £122,713 for boarders.

University tuition fees currently cost up to £1,100 each year. However, students beginning university in England from September 2006 will be subject to 'top-up' fees under Labour's controversial-Higher Education Act. The survey found that childcare is the single biggest expenditure, costing £46,043.

According to another survey carried out by the Daycare Trust charity earlier this year, the average cost of a week's care for a child under two was £197.

However, some parents were paying up to £350 a week for fulltime nursery care. The Cost of a Child survey, by the Liverpool Victoria friendly society, also discovered large regional variations in spending on children.

Youngsters in Inner London are the most expensive in the UK at an average of £176,449. Parents in the West Midlands spend the least - on average £159,298.

Experts are predicting that as living costs rise over the next four years, the cost of raising children could reach £180,000.

Alex Belardinelli, spokesman for the Child Poverty Action Group, said: 'For families on low incomes meeting basic costs like childcare, food and school uniform can be a real struggle.

'This study makes the case that parents need more help, so we hope the Government will continue to increase child tax credits, offer more support for childcare and raise child benefit much further.'