As families up and down the country prepare for the start of the new school year, a new study has revealed that parents are set to spend over £735 million on ‘back to school’ basics including uniforms, stationery, sportswear and school books. This equates an average family cost of £125 or £77 per child.

The Cost of a Child study from insurer LV=  has shown that the ‘back to school’ costs rise to £81 per child for secondary school aged children, compared to £67 for junior school and £63 for infants.

Parents living in Scotland spend the at £89 per child with North West and Londoners not far behind, spending £88 and £86 per child respectively. The cheapest place to send children back to school is the East Midlands where parents spend £60 on average.

The total cost of ‘back to school’ spend has increased by £27 million over the last 12 months (£709 million in 2010). Over half of parents feel under more pressure this year to spend on back to school items.

In order to reduce costs, over half of parents are considering using low cost suppliers for back to school items, such as supermarkets, to buy basics including uniforms and stationery.

In addition, almost one in five say instead of travelling by car, their children may travel to school by foot or public transport to save money, and 16% are considering school dinners for their children if they work out cheaper than a packed lunch. In addition, almost a third of parents are planning to cut back on the amount of extra-curricular activities they pay for such as ballet, music and sport lessons.

Mark Jones, LV= head of protection, said, “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.”