The average cumulative cost of raising a child from birth to the age of 21 has risen by 4% in just over a year, and is rapidly nearing an incredible £200,000, it is claimed.
The figure does not take into account private school fees, but even a state education can set families back thousands of pounds in uniforms, equipment and extra costs such as school trips, according to the latest report from insurance and investment group LV=.
It shows bills have risen by 38% since its surveys began in 2003, even though spending on family holidays and pocket money has recently shrunk significantly.
The £193,772 cost of bringing up baby, who can set parents back an eye-watering £8,853 in the first year alone, is based on a mixture of information from national bodies such as the Daycare Trust and National Union of Students, and surveys by LV= and other companies.
Parents in outer London are shown to be paying the most on raising a child, shelling out an average £211,977 until the child reaches 21, followed by those in inner London who spend £202,644, and eastern England where the average is £200,274, the report said.
Parents in the West Midlands face the lowest costs – an average of £186,641 – while in Wales the estimated average is £188,916 and in Scotland it is £189,086.
Childcare and education make up the brunt of the potential costs. Over the years the cost of the former comes to an average of £53,818 nationally, when nursery fees, after-school clubs and holiday clubs are taken into account.
This is more than the cost of education, which LV= said is £50,240, including £34,300 on studying for a university degree.
These costs soar by an additional national average of £71,660 for those paying for a child to go all the way through private day school, and by £129,260 if a child is boarding. This takes the overall averages up to £265,432 and £323,032 respectively.
Minor declines
Estimates of pocket money costs have shrunk significantly since the last report in December 2007, down from £5,649 to £4,144, as have those for spending on a child's holidays, which is down from £13,359 to £11,920. A separate survey of parental attitudes also suggested parents are now saving far less too.
Mike Rogers, group chief executive at LV=, said: "Every parent knows how their hard-earned savings can dip thanks to eye-watering education and childcare costs.
"It is also likely to be of little comfort to mums and dads to hear that pocket money costs are at their lowest level since 2004, or that expenditure on family holidays in 2008 was only 4% up on the 2003 cost."
The survey has been conducted on comparable lines since it began. But an LV= spokeswoman conceded yesterday that its estimates took no account of how the costs of either childcare or state education were divided between parents, government grants and loans, student repayments, and income a child earns from working while at college.
A survey LV= commissioned from YouGov of nearly 1,200 adults aged 40 and over with at least one adult child, published in September, suggested that on average a parent actually paid just £2,245 a year towards their offspring's university costs, totalling £6,735 for a three-year course.
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