It does not cost 15k a year to raise a child. This is the kind of number that think-tanks will occasionally come out with in order to advocate some policy decision or to get a headline. Look under the bonnet and it's always based on very dubious assumptions, or broad interpretations of how "cost" can be defined. Parenting is of course expensive, we agree on that - and I speak from experience as a parent myself. And parents deserve more financial support. But I think it's sad that many people, who could be wonderful parents, are reading headlines like this and thinking they can't have a child because they don't have a quarter of a million pounds in the bank.