Professional Documents
Culture Documents
After School Activities
After School Activities
After School Activities
after-school activities
in the UK: how much
do parents spend?
Research Report
September 2014
The cost of raising a child in the UK, or “the cost of parenting”, continues to
soar with parents estimated to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on
their children by the time they’ve reached the age of 21i. Childcare and
education form the largest part of this expenditure and look set to continue
to do so, especially with the rising costs of university education.
Whilst childcare and education costs may seem like essential expenses that
cannot be forgone, there are a huge number of other costs associated with
children that collectively add up to put a strain on parents’ pockets across
the country. The rise in the number of families with both parents in full-time
employment, coupled with the culture of wanting children to excel in both
sport and academic subjects, have led to an increase in the amount of after-
school clubs and activities that children are attending. However, a survey
conducted by Save the Children ii found that after-school activities are
considered too expensive by almost two-thirds of parents in the UK.
Despite this, many are still forking out for these additional classes for fear of
their children being shunned at schooliii or missing out on a vital part of their
upbringing if they do not attend.
Maths Doctor
After-school activities report 2014 2
But for many children, the one-to-many classroom method of teaching is not
enough in order for them to succeed in the subjects they find most difficult
and tuition is, therefore, considered by some parents to be almost a
necessity. Parents are having to prioritise their spending when it comes to
extra-curricular activities which are becoming increasingly unaffordable for
many families. The desire to provide children access to the best possible
opportunities is conflicting with budgetary constraints. So just how
affordable is tuition in comparison to other after-school activity costs?
Maths Doctor, the UK’s award-winning provider of live online maths tuition,
wanted to investigate how much parents are spending on their children and
conducted extensive market research to gain a greater insight into the cost
of extra-curricular activities for children across London.
Methodology
There were two main stages involved in the collection of data for this
research project which took place over a period of six months starting in
January 2014. Firstly, a total of 1098 parents were surveyed with questions
relating to the after-school activities attended by their children. Then, in an
attempt to validate the data associated with costs, further research was
carried out, as detailed below.
Maths Doctor
After-school activities report 2014 3
For the purposes of this study, definitions of key terms were determined to
help ensure the consistency of results:
Survey
Market research
It was important to validate the results of the survey in terms of the costs of
after-school activities with accurate data because, based on qualitative
feedback, many parents did not know the exact cost per session or only
Maths Doctor
After-school activities report 2014 4
knew a rough estimate. This was often due to payments being made on a
monthly or termly basis, rather than per individual session. At this stage, the
list of activities for which validation attempts were made, was reduced due
to a lack of data for less popular activities. The most popular after-school
activities were determined to be (in alphabetical order):
• Dance • Piano
• Drama • Singing lessons
• Driving • Speech & elocution
• Guides/Scouts • Swimming (1-to-1)
• Guitar • Swimming (group)
• Gymnastics • Tennis
• Horseriding • Theatre school
• Karate • Violin
• Language learning
For both group activities and those that are conducted in a one-to-one
setting i.e. where a child receives individual tuition/attention from a single
instructor/teacher, the cost of an hour-long session was found so that
comparisons could be drawn across the board. Where figures were given as
monthly or termly rates, the data was normalised to provide figures for an
hourly session. A distinction was made between group and one-to-one
sessions as this significantly affects pricing.
After gathering this data from both the survey and the various other sources,
the average cost for each activity was found for the four areas of London and
suburban surrounding areas, and the UK. The UK data was found to be
similar in nature and was thus grouped together. Comparisons were then
drawn between activities and locations.
Maths Doctor
After-school activities report 2014 5
Summary of findings
The types of activities that children engage in also varied between Primary
and Secondary school children, with sports clubs becoming much more
popular amongst older children. This also applied to age-dependent
activities like driving, replacing those such as swimming and drama which are
far more common amongst Primary school children.
Maths Doctor
After-school activities report 2014 6
Average hourly
London area
cost/session
S&SW £24.18
E&SE £20.38
N&NE £19.35
W&NW £18.40
Based on a cost per session of £21.79 and a child attending 3.2 activities
per week, parents in London spend a weekly average of £69.73 on after-
school activities per child, with some parents spending in excess of a
staggering £1,000 per month if their child were to attend 7 clubs (this was
the maximum number stated in the survey results). If the parent has two
children attending the same amount of activities, this weekly average cost
could rise to £139.46, and a monthly cost of £557.84 respectively. This
contrasts to findings for the rest of the UK, where the weekly average is
30% less with an average spend closer to £50 per child.
Maths Doctor
After-school activities report 2014 7
These figures are surprisingly high considering they incorporate only the
hourly rates of each activity and do not take into account additional costs
and fees such as those required for equipment, outfits/costumes and
examinations/competitions. In general, activities that require a subscription
or membership such as karate and gymnastics work out to be better value
than activities that are paid for on a pay-as-you-go basis such as musical
instrument lessons or language tuition. This is often because sessions are
flexible and there is the opportunity to attend more sessions per week rather
than a single regular weekly slot. Activities where the child receives one-to-
one attention from an instructor are on average 173% more expensive than
group activities which reflects the additional value that the one-to-one
attention offers.
The tables below show the cheapest and most expensive after-school
activities in London, with the corresponding UK price for each activity. These
figures highlight the vast price differential between group and one-to-one
activities.
Average cost
Activity
London UK
Gymnastics £9.10 £7.73
Theatre school £9.00 £9.00
Dance £8.92 £7.50
Karate £5.67 £3.00
Guides/Scouts £3.00 £3.00
Average cost
Activity
London UK
Horseriding £46.25 £33.00
Swimming (1-to-1) £36.10 £18.17
Piano £35.00 £30.00
Language Learning £33.00 £20.00
Guitar £32.00 £20.00
Maths Doctor
After-school activities report 2014 8
Tuition
This may also go someway in explaining the finding that the number of
children receiving tuition increased significantly at the Secondary school level
compared to children still in Primary school. That said, tuition for the 11+
entrance exams is a growing market and accounts for the majority of those
having tuition at the Primary school level in London. Qualitative feedback
suggests this increase in tuition between Primary and Secondary school
levels to be a result of a desire to get into good schools and universities and
the exam pressure that accompanies this.
So how does the cost of tuition compare with other after-school activities?
With the cost of tutoring in the UK varyingly hugely from as little as £5 per
hour right up to £100+ for the expertise of a so-called “super tutor”, it is
difficult draw meaningful comparisons to other activities in terms of price
alone. Instead it may make more sense to consider that the average London
Maths Doctor
After-school activities report 2014 9
parent of a primary school child already spends almost £300 per month on
after-school activities. With the gains made possible through one-to-one
tuition and the opportunities that good grades can open up for children, we
should view tuition, where required, not as expensive, but rather as great
value for money.
Conclusion
i
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/24/cost-to-raise-a-child-compared-
to-decade-ago - data
ii
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11110060
iii
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-28803455
iv
http://www.edplace.com/blog/parents-spend-a-staggering-6bn-a-year-on-private-tutors
v
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-29031871
vi
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/jun/29/kensington-london-tops-uk-house-prices
vii
Evening Standard, 18 August 2014, p.10
Maths Doctor
After-school activities report 2014 10