Families weighing up whether one parent can afford to stay at home need a household income of around £62,000 a year before tax just to cover average bills, according to new analysis by the Mail and This is Money.
The number of stay-at-home parents in the UK has fallen to an all-time low of 1.5 million, having halved over the past three decades, according to official data. Families spend £13,830 per child each year on average, or a little over £1,150 a month, according to investment platform Moneyfarm, covering childcare, extra-curricular activities, clothing, pocket money and technology such as streaming subscriptions.
Eight in ten mothers who return to work early from maternity leave say they could not afford not to, according to a survey by charity Pregnant Then Screwed and Women In Data.
Can you afford to be a stay-at-home parent?
The average UK household spends £3,500 a month on bills including rent or mortgage payments, utilities, transport and eating out, according to analysis of Office for National Statistics data by NimbleFins. To cover this, a working parent in England, Wales or Northern Ireland would need to earn £62,000 a year pre-tax, leaving take-home pay of £42,000 a year, or £3,500 a month, once a 5 per cent pension contribution and student loan repayments are accounted for.
How far that stretches depends heavily on lifestyle and location, with £62,000 going much further in the North-East than in London and the South-East, where housing costs are higher. A recent Reddit thread asking what income a family would need to live on one salary illustrated the gap: one respondent said their husband's £65,000 salary was not enough to live on in the South-East with a £400,000 mortgage, while another said the same salary allowed her to be a stay-at-home mother living comfortably in south Lincolnshire.
Childcare costs and expert advice
The cost of childcare means staying at home can make financial sense for some parents of young children. A full-time nursery place for a child under two costs £7,738 a year, or £645 a month, for parents receiving 30 funded hours a week, according to the 2026 annual survey from children's charity Coram, though prices in London and the South-East can top £20,000 even with Government funding. School holidays add further costs, with parents facing an average bill of £191 per child a week for care, or £1,145 for the six-week summer break, Coram found.
Rajan Lakhani, a personal finance specialist at money management app Plum, said: "It may be less common today, but having one parent not working is still something many families consider. With the high cost of childcare, long and expensive commutes, and the personal sacrifice of spending less time with your children, you can see why sometimes it makes a lot of sense to avoid all of that with one parent staying at home full time."
Claire Walsh, a chartered financial planner at Midsummer Wealth, said the stay-at-home parent should be treated as an equal financial partner, warning that too often one person ends up with all the pensions and investments in their name, leaving the other financially vulnerable if the relationship breaks down or their partner dies suddenly. "Before making the decision, I'd encourage couples to think of it as a family financial plan rather than one person's career choice," she said. "Sit down together and look at what income you'll have, what you'll spend, how much you'll save, and what happens if things change." She added that both partners should have visibility over household finances and access to emergency funds, and said: "I always encourage the stay-at-home parent to have some money in an account in their own name. Even in the happiest relationships, it's sensible for both partners to retain some financial independence and confidence."
Protecting your pension
A parent who takes time out of work loses their employer's pension contributions, but can protect their state pension record by claiming child benefit, which builds National Insurance credits toward the 35 qualifying years needed for the full state pension of £12,548 a year from age 66, rising gradually to 68. Anyone earning £60,000 a year or less can receive £1,407 a year for the oldest or only child and £933 for each subsequent child, with the benefit tapering to zero on salaries up to £80,000. Parents are advised to register for child benefit to secure the National Insurance credits even if they are not eligible for the payments themselves.
Hollee Vivian, a chartered financial planner and founder of Vivian Wealth, said a stay-at-home parent should also consider paying into a private pension, funded by the working partner. Non-earners can pay £2,880 into a pension each tax year, with tax relief bringing the total to £3,600, which she said is especially important for unmarried couples, who are unlikely to be entitled to a partner's pension funds if they split up. "Many people think setting up a pension is too much hassle," Vivian said. "But doing it online can be quick and easy, and year-on-year contributions can really add up." Couples were also advised to consider life insurance to ensure the mortgage, bills and childcare could still be paid if either parent died unexpectedly.
Vineta Senberga's story
Vineta Senberga, 46, resigned from her job as an area manager for a retail company after 13 years in the industry to stay at home with her three children in Greater London. She has been at home since her latest maternity leave began last summer and resigned a couple of months ago.
"I really enjoyed my job and expected to return after maternity leave," she said. "But once we worked through the numbers, it didn't make financial sense. By the time we'd paid for nursery for the baby, breakfast club and after-school club for the twins, commuting and everything else that comes with working, I'd have been working full-time while bringing home very little extra money."
The family now lives on her husband's income, which stays below £80,000 so they still qualify for child benefit. Their biggest monthly cost is rent of just over £2,000, followed by council tax at £291, gas and electricity at £164, water at £75, petrol at £140 and food at £860, totalling £3,530 a month before clubs, activities, internet, TV subscriptions and phone bills.
"We have cut our expenses drastically. We keep things longer, question every purchase, and try to be happy with what we already have," Senberga said. "We treat my husband's income as family money rather than 'his' money. We make financial decisions together and I have full access to our finances." She now documents her life as a stay-at-home mother to more than 21,000 Instagram followers on her @vineta.life account, and has registered for child benefit to keep building her National Insurance credits.
"What I like best about being a stay-at-home mum is the time," she said. "I'm grateful I get to spend these early years with our baby while still being there for our older children before and after school. Those are years I can't get back, so I am really trying to enjoy myself. What I like least is the financial uncertainty. Going from having my own salary to relying on one income has been a huge adjustment. It can make you feel quite vulnerable."
Topping up income and Rachel Buckmaster's story
Many stay-at-home parents earn a small income through freelance work, selling clothes on platforms such as Vinted or starting a business. It is possible to earn up to £12,570 a year tax-free, plus a further £1,000 "trading allowance," meaning up to £13,570 can be earned without paying tax.
Rachel Buckmaster, a 32-year-old scientist from Cambridgeshire, is due to have her first baby next month and hopes to eventually cut her working hours to spend more time with her daughter. She plans to take a year's maternity leave before returning part-time to her job, but as a single parent she does not have a partner's income to fall back on. Her annual salary of £50,000 will not, she fears, provide enough security for her and her child, with rent of £1,000 a month and childcare costs expected to be about £1,000 a month. She is hoping to grow her business, a luxury dress rental service called SlayBae. "If the business does as well as I hope then I can stay at home more and hopefully reduce my hours in my job," she said.
How the tax system affects single earners
Because every adult in the UK is taxed individually with a personal allowance of £12,570 a year, a single-earner household effectively loses the benefit of a second allowance. Lakhani said: "If the aim is to cover the stay-at-home parent's salary, the working parent will usually need to earn much more than double the other parent's take home pay, due to income tax and National Insurance payments being deducted from a single higher salary rather than across two allowances."
For example, if both parents earn £35,000 each, their combined take-home pay is £54,130. But if one partner alone secured a job paying £70,000, their take-home pay would actually be lower, at £46,188. Once earnings pass £100,000, the personal allowance starts being withdrawn, and it is gone entirely by £125,000. Earning above £100,000 also means losing valuable Government childcare support, including 30 hours of funded childcare, worth up to £20,000 a year.
A single earner on £130,000 a year would take home £70,428 annually, or £5,869 a month, after tax, student loan repayments and 5 per cent pension contributions. A couple with a combined income of £130,000, split for example as £50,000 and £80,000, would take home £87,010 a year, or £7,251 a month, £1,382 a month more than the single earner, while also qualifying for 30 hours of funded childcare worth up to £20,000 a year in London.
