The summer holidays are just another tax on parents

Times

a day ago

Three weeks into the dreaded summer holidays and I am already counting the cost.
I have spent hundreds of pounds on holiday clubs and flying the grandmother over to help with childcare. Not to mention filling the fridge to the max every two days to keep the smalls alive (someone ate eight mini chocolate rolls in one sitting, which is quite the feat).
But I take solace in the fact that I'm hardly alone in being pushed to the edge of financial ruin at this time of year. Parents around the country are feeling the squeeze because, even if you save up your annual leave for the summer, the sums still do not add up.
Children in state schools have 13 weeks of holidays a year, those in private schools even more. With the typical worker getting about five or six weeks of paid holiday a year, even a child can see that it won't work. 'Delulu,' as my daughter would say.
So what do families do? If you're lucky you can ship off your children to stay with an older relative for a week or two — although grandparents have gone through this with their own children, they shouldn't really have to help. Another alternative is to split the holiday with your partner, although it's debatable whether or not that is a good recipe for marital bliss.
Then we have the holiday clubs that not only cost an arm and a leg, but unhelpfully do not cover a full working day. Most of them are open from 10am to 3pm. While parents are legally entitled to 18 weeks of unpaid leave, financially it is not always an option.
And when you take your little darlings on holiday — whether that is in the UK or abroad — you have to pay an extortionate amount because it is during the school holidays. Thanks. Like there is a way around that.
• How to stop your darling children wrecking your finances
Stop the moaning, I hear you say, having children is a choice. Suck it up. And of course it is. But tell me, who will pay for that state pension triple lock? The free bus pass? Or those vital prescriptions?
Birth rates in the UK are the lowest on record — the fertility rate in England and Wales was 1.44 in 2023, but needs to be 2.1 to sustain a level population. Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics projects the proportion of people living in the UK who are over 65 will be 24 per cent by 2042, up from 18 per cent in 2016.
Parents are already under serious financial pressure. Child benefit is no longer universal, more families are missing out on tax-free childcare because they are being pushed over the £100,000 threshold due to fiscal drag, and to make ends meet it is increasingly necessary for both parents to work.
Gone are the days of every child getting a trust fund with a £250 helping hand from the government, or affordable university fees. Parents are often left to plug the gap.
• Open door, open wallet. Welcome to the forever cost of parenting
Four in ten people are putting off having children, according to a recent survey by the polling company Ipsos, published by the Independent. The reason? They can't afford it. The cost of raising a child to age 18 is £260,000 for a couple, according to the charity Child Poverty Action Group.
Declining birth rates is a global problem. Some countries have implemented policies to try to encourage women to have babies. In South Korean government offers cash subsidies, babysitting services and support for infertility treatment, while China will pay parents subsidies of $500 a year per child until the age of three. And the Trump administration has floated the idea of a $5,000 baby bonus.
Economic incentives alone won't get more women to have children but it's a start — families need more support if we want them to grow. The cost and upheaval of covering the summer holidays is just another burden on overstretched parents — and another factor to put people off having children in the first place.