Average cost of being a parent in the UK

Based on the data we collected, the average cost of being a parent in the UK and raising your child to the age of 18 is a staggering £225,521 - nearly a quarter of a million pounds.

Parents spend an average of £12,540.02 on their child per year, with school uniforms, childcare, food, and baby groups being the real budget busters. In fact, 41.4% of parents we surveyed say they regularly go over budget.

A further 58.2% of parents state that they’re much more budget-conscious since having a child, and 61.5% feel they’re far more responsible with money now they have to account for more outgoings.

Fortunately, despite budgetary concerns, 88% of parents say they truly believe that having kids is worth it, but roughly half didn’t expect the expenses to be so high. As a result, 77% of parents put savings away for their kids, with 83.9% agreeing that it’s important to teach their children about money and budgeting.

Interestingly, 76.9% of those we surveyed mentioned that they actually started to budget more efficiently for other areas of their life after having a child.

Now that we’ve touched on the various expenses incurred by parents when raising a child, let’s turn our attention to the trends across the UK. Naturally, these vary from city to city.

Unsurprisingly, London is the most expensive place in the UK to raise a child, costing parents £20,060.71 per year, and £278,316.40 by the time the child reaches adulthood. London is then closely followed by Manchester at £18,115.77 yearly, and £250,641.22 in total.

The three other most expensive cities in the UK for raising a child include Norwich, costing parents £16,084.56 yearly, and £224,029.78 overall. Southampton totals £15,529.41 per month, and £218,931.08 in total. And Belfast sets parents back £15,157.21 on a monthly basis, and £210,583.15 by the end of childhood

Zooming in on specific costs per city, it seems parents in Belfast spend the most money on food, roughly £146.65 per month, while Glasgow is much cheaper at a cost of £98.46. Southampton spends the most on healthcare, £146.83 per month, while parents in Edinburgh spend as little as £23.57.

Manchester appears to have the most expensive school uniforms, £113.81 per month, but again, Edinburgh is startlingly cheaper at a paltry £22.86. Glasgow has the most expensive childcare, sitting at a monthly cost of £282.50, with Bristol being much cheaper at £82.27.

Lastly, London spends £128.47 on baby groups per month while Cardiff spends just £47.

Children are expensive, and it’s looking like these costs will only increase in the coming years. This makes it even more important than ever to start budgeting for your children now, especially if you’re looking to have children in the near future.

Having a sizeable nest egg set aside for your kids provides invaluable reassurance. You could ensure your kids are protected and financially stable, should anything happen to you, by taking out life insurance.

Here at Reassured, our expert team will work with you to find the right life insurance protection for you.

From life insurance for parents to over 50s cover, get in touch with our team today to see how we can help you - our award-winning service is fee-free.