Parents becoming more reliant on debt and savings to pay for childcare

New research has found the number of parents resorting to debt in order to pay for childcare costs is on the rise.

Research group Pregnant Then Screwed compared the latest figures to those from last year and found that over four parents in every ten was struggling to pay the bills without spending savings.

In total, nearly 36,000 people were surveyed for the study, with a nationally representative sample of just under 6,000 people being taken to extrapolate the data.

Statistics from last year's study found that 35% of parents were going into debt in order to pay for their childcare costs. This year, the figure increased to 46% according to the charity.

Over a third of respondents were using credit cards, taking out loans or borrowing money from family and friends, according to the study.

Similarly, over a fifth of people taking part in the study found that they were having to withdraw funds from their savings accounts or pensions in order to have their child's costs accounted for.

Single parents are particularly affected, according to the figures - with almost two thirds of lone parents being forced into debt in order to make childcare cost ends meet.

Speaking on the results of the study, Joeli Brearley from Pregnant Then Screwed, explained that the cost of living crisis is having a huge impact on how parents are stretching themselves.

"We’ve not only got a cost-of-living crisis, we’ve got a cost-of-working crisis that disproportionately impacts mothers," she said.

"If we aren’t careful, becoming a parent will be a luxury item, and the economy can’t afford to pay that price."

In March 2023, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt revealed that some families of children as young as nine could avail of free childcare, with 30 hours of free childcare being provided per week.

Under the proposals, parents of children ages two years and up who are in regular work will be able to get 15 hours of free childcare a week, with plans to expand this to children aged as young as nine months due to come into force in September.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department for Education said: "We are rolling out the largest ever expansion in childcare support in England’s history, saving families using the full 30 funded hours up to £6,500 per year.

"Our average funding rates for new entitlements are expected to be substantially higher than the average hourly fees paid by parents last year, and we are already seeing providers looking to expand their placements across the country.

"We published local authority hourly funding rates in November, and we are urging local authorities to confirm these rates by the end of the month."

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