Parents ‘face financial struggle to keep kids entertained’

With consumers throughout the country already dealing with debt management problems, figures from Abbey have shown that parents in the UK spend close to £4.7 billion on keeping their children amused while they are not in school.

Furthermore, each parental unit plans to spend an average of £741 to keep their kids happy this summer and 41 per cent say they underestimated these costs last year, a recent survey by Abbey discovered.

Steve Shore, head of banking at Abbey, said: “There are plenty of ways to keep children entertained, but these can be costly and parents can get caught out by unexpected expenses.

“It’s important that families try to set aside some extra cash in advance of the summer holidays, just in case.”

Personal debts, outside of mortgage arrears, for the average household in the UK now amount to more than £8,800, according to figures from Credit Action.