Is the credit crunch causing the school squeeze?
August, 12, 2008
There's no such thing as a free lunch, especially if it's a school dinner, new research suggests.
A report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) indicates that the cost of sending a child to school has risen to £1,077 per year, due in part to the ongoing effects of the credit crunch.
Rising fuel costs are identified as making transport to seats of education more expensive, while increasing food prices have made it more expensive to produce school meals, the study states.
What costs what?
Breaking down the spending, dinners at school now cost £388 per year per child and are the largest portion of spending, the BBC notes.
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This is followed by £266 being spent every year in order to provide a school uniform, with sports and PE kits coming in third at £207 on an annual basis.
Andy Bond, chief executive of Asda, which commissioned the report, said: "It is important for retailers like us to understand the real financial pressures that are facing UK families, particularly when families do not have the choice to opt out, like sending their children to school."
Meanwhile, school secretary Ed Balls said that school uniforms help to instil a sense of pride and positive behaviour in pupils, adding it is important that access to such clothing is not discriminatory, meaning that it should be affordable.
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Rounding out the top five, money spent on school visits - which may range from day trips to museums to longer stays which last a number of days - totals £79 per year for each child, while the school runs costs £66 every 12 months.
However, it was noted that the cost of the school run significantly depends on the circumstances of individual families, the Press Association reports.
According to the CEBR, total annual costs for education rose by 2.3 per cent in the 12-month period ending in June, which represents the biggest percentage rise for a decade.
Families now spend a total of £10.5 billion on an annual basis to pay for school essentials, with households on low incomes feeling the effects of rising costs the most acutely, the report suggests.
Part of a wider problem?
Indeed, figures from the Office for National Statistics published today (August 12th) show that inflation rose to 4.4 per cent in July, up from 3.8 per cent in June, a figure which is over double the Bank of England's two per cent target for the month.
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As with the CEBR's research, food and fuel were identified as two of the major contributing factors to the results of the investigation.
Food surged from an annual rate of 9.5 per cent in June to a total of 12.3 per cent in July.
Meanwhile, the average price of petrol and diesel at the pumps rose by 1.2 pence per litre, while diesel increased by 1.8 per cent, to stand at 118.8 pence and 132.3 pence per litre, respectively.
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