Official statistical benchmark · ONS Family Spending by household composition · Year ending March 2025
How much does a child cost?
There is no official price of a child. What the ONS does publish is what households of each shape spend on average, so the closest honest figure is the gap between a household with a child and the same household without one. That gap includes everything those families do differently, from housing to holidays, and is an average across incomes, so it is a benchmark, not your bill.
The spending gap, a month
| Step | Without | With | Gap a month | Child Benefit a month | Gap after Child Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two adults: first child | £3,412 | £3,448 | £37 | £117 | −£80 |
| Two adults: second child | £3,448 | £3,827 | £379 | £78 | £301 |
| Two adults: third or later child | £3,827 | £3,287 | −£540 | £78 | −£617 |
| One adult: first child | £1,937 | £2,177 | £240 | £117 | £123 |
| One adult: second or later children | £2,177 | £2,366 | £190 | £78 | £112 |
Total weekly household expenditure by composition group, UK, Year ending March 2025, × 52 ÷ 12. Child Benefit at the 2026/27 rates (£27.05 a week for the eldest, £17.90 for each other child), before the High Income Child Benefit Charge above £60,000.
Read with care
Families with children differ from those without in age, income and housing, so the gap is not caused by the child alone. Childcare fees are inside the totals only to the extent surveyed families paid them; the published tables do not separate them, and a childcare calculator on official hourly-fee statistics is planned. Households where the reference person is retired are excluded from the “without children” groups.