{"id":296857,"date":"2026-02-14T00:40:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/296857\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T00:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:40:12","slug":"most-people-underestimate-the-value-of-a-stay-at-home-parent-new-survey-reveals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/296857\/","title":{"rendered":"Most people underestimate the value of a stay-at-home parent, new survey reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">It would cost around \u20ac60,000 a year to replace a parent who works in the home caring for children and doing household work, a rise of almost 50pc in a decade, according to life insurer Royal London Ireland.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">A survey carried out by iReach for the insurer found more than eight in 10 people (82pc) in Ireland underestimate the monetary value of a stay-at-home mother or father.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Analysts at Royal London Ireland calculated that it would cost around \u20ac60,100 a year to \u201cemploy\u201d someone to do the myriad jobs carried out by a stay-at-home parent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_medium indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0\" style=\"color:var(--color-black-base)\">The average estimate given was around \u20ac34,500<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The survey shows that less than one in five of the 1,000 adults polled nationwide estimate the cost of carrying out the responsibilities of a stay-at-home parent at over \u20ac50,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The average estimate given by people who responded to the survey was around \u20ac34,500.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Stay-at-home parents offer 'invisible' value to the economy. Stock image. Photo: Getty\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/8349b767-9bb3-4e51-90d1-d68dc4b93bfe.jpg\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"100%\" data-testid=\"article-image\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">Stay-at-home parents offer &#8216;invisible&#8217; value to the economy. Stock image. Photo: Getty<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_caption1 indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_regular indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0 indo-1d70522a_marginleft0 indo-1d70522a_marginright0 indo-1d70522a_margintop3 indo-b48c4984_left\" style=\"color:var(--color-grey-60)\">Today&#8217;s News in 90 &#8211; Friday February 13                 <\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Royal London\u2019s \u201cStay-at-Home Parent\u201d report examines how adults in Ireland assess the monetary worth of parents who provide full-time care and household management at home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">It aims to raise awareness of the invisible monetary value of the contribution provided by stay-at-home parents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Karen O\u2019Flaherty, senior propositions executive of Royal London Ireland, said stay-at-home parents deserve both support and consideration in financial planning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">She said her firm estimated the value given by the Irish public compared with research on the possible cost of hiring someone to carry out the full range of parenting duties.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The role\u2019s estimated annual equivalent has increased by 5.2pc to \u20ac60,112. This is up from \u20ac57,140 in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">It represents an overall rise of about 48pc from \u20ac40,560 when the study was first conducted 10 years ago in 2015.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">According to the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) \u201cVital Statistics Annual Report\u201d, 54,526 babies were born in 2023, with 16pc of mothers identifying their occupation as a homemaker.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-91174671_secondary indo-66f0fec7_medium indo-1d70522a_marginbottom0\" style=\"color:var(--color-black-base)\">Since t2015, the estimated annual value of a stay-at-home parent has risen by nearly 50pc<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">Mr O\u2019Flaherty said that 10 years of the research has consistently shown that the responsibilities carried out by stay-at-home parents form a vital part of how families function.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">\u201cSince the study began in 2015, the estimated annual value of a stay-at-home parent has risen by nearly 50pc, yet public perception has not kept pace,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">\u201cStay-at-home parents carry out an enormous amount of daily responsibilities, from childcare and household organisation to education support, taxiing, and daily logistics \u2013 all of which would be very expensive to replace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">More than one in five women accurately estimated that the cost would exceed \u20ac50,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">People aged 35 to 44 were the most likely to correctly estimate the financial value at over \u20ac50,000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"indo-ebe0ecc6_root indo-ebe0ecc6_paragraph indo-300db776_none indo-91174671_primary indo-1d70522a_marginbottom5 indo-1d70522a_margintop0 indo-b48c4984_inherit\" style=\"color:var(--color-primary-80)\">The tasks in Royal London\u2019s calculation included household management, meal preparation, transporting children to activities, and other day-to-day care<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It would cost around \u20ac60,000 a year to replace a parent who works in the home caring for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,3361,61,60,3362],"class_list":["post-296857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-charlie-weston","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-money-experts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}