The new school term marks the beginning of an 11-year spending spree by parents costing as much as £84 billion* a new study reveals today.
The new school term marks the beginning of an 11-year spending spree by parents costing as much as Ł84 billion* a new study reveals today.
Norwich Union’s ‘School Sums’ research reveals that the total average cost of sending a child to state school - from the age of 5 through to age 16 - is just under Ł10,000.
Parents can expect to fork out in total a staggering Ł7.7 billion just in the 2002/3 school year on the everyday costs associated with their kids’ education. That works out at nearly Ł900 per child per school year.
The national shopping list for parents just for the 2002/3 school year will include around:
- 35 million shirts or blouses
- 27 million trousers or skirts
- 18 million jumpers
- 18 million pairs of shoes
- 18 million schoolbooks
- 9 million coats
- 9 million bags and rucksacks
- 9 million sets of sports kit
Other findings from the School Sums research were:
- Over a child’s school lifetime - totalling eleven years - their parents will have to pay for 22 school trips, 44 shirts or blouses, 33 pairs of trousers or skirts, 22 jumpers and 22 pairs of shoes.
- Parents of girls face a larger bill as they have more spent on books, trips and after-school clubs.
- Costs go up when children enter secondary education with the annual spend rising by over Ł60 due to the increased cost of uniforms, sports kit and excursions.
But despite the expense, making extra financial provision for the everyday costs associated with school may be difficult for many families as more than half of those questioned said their main money concern was simply keeping their heads above water.
Ian Beggs, from Norwich Union, said: “Many parents think of state schools as being free but the costs are significant. Nearly Ł8 billion of our money gets spent each year just covering the everyday costs of sending our children to school. That’s nearly Ł900 per year per child.
“It’s important to allow for these costs when managing your finances. If parents do their school sums now they’ll know what they need to put aside.”
Media Contacts:
Gill Munro or Liz Fay at QBO on 020 7379 0304 or the Norwich Union Life press office on 01904 452 828.
Notes to Editors
- * This figure does not include allowance for inflation or population changes.
- The total cost of sending a child to school was calculated by the following method: Parents were asked to give the average cost and frequency of purchase per year for a selection of school related items. The sum of all items taken as an average, is the cost per year per child. This figure was multiplied by the total number of school years (from 5 to 16) to give the cost per school life. The overall national cost over 11 years was calculated by multiplying this figure by the number of school children in the UK (8,871,114. Sources: Office for National Statistics, Scottish Executive Education Department, Department for Education and Skills, Schools Census, Digest of Welsh Statistics 2001).
- Norwich Union commissioned Brand and Issues Research to interview 500 parents of school age children in August 2002. Regional statistics are available on request.
- Norwich Union is the UK’s largest insurer. It is the UK’s largest provider of life, pensions and investment products and one of the leading IFA providers.
- Norwich Union has strategic alliances with building societies and other leading UK brand names including Tesco Personal Finance and The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
- Norwich Union’s news releases are available on the Aviva plc website at www.aviva.com
- A selection of images are available from the Norwich Union Newscast site at www.Newscast.co.uk