Parents to spend £77 per child on ‘back to school' basics
As families up and down the country prepare for the start of the new school year, the Cost of a Child study from protection specialist LV=, reveals parents are set to spend £736 million on ‘back to school' basics including uniforms, stationery, sportswear and school books. This equates an average family cost of £125 or £77 per child.
The ‘back to school' costs rise to £81 per child for secondary school aged children, compared to £67 for junior school and £63 for infants. Parents living in Scotland spend the most preparing for their kids to go back to school at £89 per child with North West and Londoners not far behind, spending £88 and £86 per child respectively. The cheapest place to send children back to school is the East Midlands where parents spend £60 on average.
The total cost of ‘back to school' spend has increased by £27 million over the last 12 months (£709 million in 2010). Over half (57%) of parents feel under more pressure this year to spend on back to school items.
Budget Britain
In order to reduce costs, over half of parents (53%) are considering using low cost suppliers for back to school items, such as supermarkets, to buy basics including uniforms and stationery, and nearly one in four (22%) are considering giving their kids second hand items, including hand-me-downs.
In addition, almost one in five (16%) say instead of travelling by car, their children may travel to school by foot or public transport to save money, and 16% are considering school dinners for their children if they work out cheaper than a packed lunch. In addition, almost a third (31%) of parents are planning to cut back on the amount of extra curricular activities they pay for such as ballet, music and sport lessons.
Mark Jones, LV= head of protection, said: "Parents are under a great deal of pressure to spend significant amounts on kitting their kids with the latest bags and coats, and brand new uniforms and stationery. Although we can see that parents are attempting to be frugal, these costs seem to keep going up."
Cost of raising a child going up and up year on year
LV='s annual Cost of a Child study, released earlier this year showed the cost of raising a child until their 21st birthday now totals more than £210,000. This equates to £10,040 a year, £836 a month or £27.50 a day. The cost of raising a child is up 50% from LV='s first Cost of a Child Report in 2003. Education (not including private school fees) remains the second biggest expenditure behind childcare, costing parents £55,660 over a child's lifetime. The report also found that parents were set to spend £8.6 billion over the summer break on childcare (£3.2 billion) and entertainment (£5.4 billion)
Mark Jones continues: "At first glance spending £77 to send your child back to school may not seem excessive and preparing children for their return to school is such a small part of the expense of raising a family, but it's easy for these costs to mount up. This is why it is important that parents try and look beyond the short term and ensure they have suitable budgets and long term financial plans in place.
"Ensuring your family's financial security against unexpected job loss, accident, or illness is more important than ever in the current climate. Protection doesn't have to be expensive, and in many cases it could turn out to be one of the best investments you'll ever make."