In 2022, the additional basic cost of a child, from birth to age 18, was £69,621 for a couple family and £113,102 for a lone-parent family. If housing and childcare costs are added these rise to £157,562 and £208,735 respectively.
09 November 2022
Cost of a child reaches almost £160,000 for couples, £200,000 for lone parents. 2021-2022 saw the biggest annual deterioration in living standards since 2012. The government must increase benefits with inflation at the Autumn Statement.
08 November 2022
Families in 2022 are facing the greatest threat to their living standards in living memory. Much has been written about these pressures, but to put them into context, we need to understand what has been happening to children’s and families’ costs in recent years. The Cost of a Child reports have been produced annually for a decade, and this 2022 edition presents the latest evidence of what families need as a minimum, and how this compares to the actual incomes of low-income families.
09 March 2022
A report analyzing the impact Scottish government policies and lower childcare costs have on the costs of bringing up a child.
14 December 2021
With inflation once more in the news and Christmas around the corner, many parents are understandably concerned about covering family costs. Our latest findings show that the cost of bringing up a child has risen to at least £160,000, with increases in items such as childcare, food and domestic fuel pushing it ever higher.
14 December 2021
The cost of bringing up a child topped £160,000 in 2021 – jumping well over 3% - as millions grapple with inflation and the universal credit cut, research for Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) shows.
13 December 2021
Child Poverty Action Group’s annual cost of a child report looks at how much it costs families to provide a minimum socially acceptable standard of living for their children. Since 2012, this report series has systematically monitored the minimum cost of a child. This report updates those calculations for 2021 and outlines the factors affecting the latest figures. The total cost of raising a child to the age of 18 now stands at £160,692 for a couple and £193,801 for a lone parent.
29 October 2020
The year 2020 has put unprecedented pressures on families bringing up children. Parents across the world have taken on new challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic in keeping their children healthy and safe as well as properly fed, educated and entertained at a time when they have been required to stay at home, and when many families’ livelihoods have been threatened. Our cost of a child report looks at what items families need to provide a minimum socially acceptable standard of living for their children in 2020.
29 October 2020
The Covid-19 temporary £20 per week increase in universal credit and working tax credits has enabled some low-paid working families with full-time jobs to get close to – or even just above – a minimum acceptable standard of living (or MIS, a no-frills, but adequate standard of living ), new research for Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) shows.
04 September 2019
Working lone parents on reasonable pay cannot reach a minimum acceptable living standard – as defined by the public - even if they work full time, new research for Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) shows.
04 September 2019
The latest report in our annual Cost of a Child series finds that the overall cost of a child up to age 18 (including rent and childcare) is £185,000 for lone parents (up 19% since 2012) and £151,000 for couples (up 5.5% since 2012). The gap between lone parents’ actual income and what they need to meet family needs has grown sharply.
