Local charity reveals staggering cost of childcare here
A report by Employers for Childcare has revealed the average cost of a full-time childcare place is around 40% of average household income in Northern Ireland.
The charity's annual Childcare cost survey shows having children minded is costing families £168 per week.
Employers for Childcare is warning the escalating prices are becoming a barrier to work for many parents.
Mother of three Clare Morris told Downtown Cool FM, the price of childcare is a significant proportion of her monthly wage:
"Our childcare bill is about two times our mortgage each month, so most of my salary goes towards childcare.
"Any sort of unexpected items would be an absolute worry.
"If anything were to go wrong in the house like the boiler had to be repaired or one of the cars were to break down, those unexpected bills are certainly a worry.
"It's always something that we have to try and keep in the background that we don't have much in the way of savings because of the expenditure we have on a month by month basis," she said.
The 33-year-old who works full-time, said families are often forced to go without, in order to cover the costs:
"It is a worry...we have to watch what we spend and we don't get to go on holidays," she said.
"We have to be careful what we do at the weekends and we have to make choices.
"Even doing our weekly shopping we have to consider what we are going to use for that week and we have to budget carefully so it's always a strain," she added.
The charity is lobbying the government to keep childcare vouchers open to new entrants beyond April 2018.
The initiative allows working parents to save on costs through a 'salary sacrifice' scheme until their child is 15.
Clare said the programme has helped her and her husband to continue working:
"If the tax free childcare were to be abolished, we wouldn't be eligible for any help and that would be a strain," she said.
"We would have to reconsider our working hours and our working conditions.
"The childcare vouchers were a very easy to use system and everything could be set up so that each month they would be deducted from your childcare invoice and you would pay the outstanding balance.
"We get 20p in every pound paid for by the tax free system.
"Without that we wouldn't be able to afford our childcare and I wouldn't be able to carry on working," she added.