Back to school ‘basics’ average £77 per child

Back to school ‘basics’ will be costing parents an average of £77 per child, leading 53 per cent of parents straight to budget school uniforms and stationary.

The average cost for each junior school child to return to school is £67 and £63 for each infant.

The Cost of a Child study from protection specialist LV=, also finds 31 per cent of parents scrapping extra music, dance and sports lessons.

Other ways parents are looking to reduce costs include using supermarket uniform lines, second hand items and making children walk to school.

LV= head of protection, Mark Jones 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.

“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.”