After-school care jumps to £2,800 a year for some

Parents of children in primary school could be paying more than £2,800 for a year of after-school care in some parts of the UK.

Data collected by children’s charity Coram, and analysed by the Guardian, has found the cost of after-school care in England has risen by 42% over the past ten years. The annual cost has gone up by 5% over the past twelve months to £2,636. In Scotland the cost is even greater at £2,701, and even more again in Wales at £2,824. Wales has seen an increase of 64% over the last decade and costs have gone up by 8% over the past year.

This cost does not include childcare before the start of school, such as breakfast clubs, or extracurricular activities. Nor does it include childcare during the school holidays, which can typically cost around £190 a week, totally more than £1,700 across the whole year.

Lydia Hodges, head of Coram Family and Childcare said that when a child is at nursery “a lot of parents hear: ‘Oh it will be better when they go to school.’ But actually, once you factor in paying for after-school childcare and holiday childcare, it’s still a pretty big bill every month” adding “It’s never-ending, really, isn’t it, for parents?”

Nearly half of parents and guardians surveyed by the Nationwide building society said they were stressed by the cost of children going back to school, and a quarter said that were delaying buying non-essential purchases. Their research found that parents could expect to spend more than £15,500 on a child’s school years from reception to GCSE, with clubs making up the largest cost.

Lydia Hodges of Coram commented: “It’s very stressful, I think, for a lot of parents, and it’s something that they have to take into account in their budget when they’re thinking about: ‘Is it worthwhile working? Does work pay? How many children can we have?’”