North Yorkshire nursery says more parents forced to quit job to pay for childcare
A new study has found 1 in 4 are having to leave work or study because of rising costs
The cost of childcare is forcing one in four UK parents to give up their job or drop out of education, according to a new study.
More than 7,000 parents and carers from the UK, Brazil, India, Netherlands, Nigeria, Turkey and the US with children under the age of seven were questioned for global children's charity Theirworld.
The research found 23% of UK-based parents had either quit work or dropped out of their studies to avoid childcare costs, compared with 17% of their counterparts in Brazil, 16% in Turkey and 13% in Nigeria.
Some 74% of parents in the UK said they find it difficult to meet childcare costs, compared with 52% in India, 57% in the Netherlands, 59% in Nigeria, 68% in the US and Brazil, and 72% in Turkey.
Sarah Green is the manager of Abbey Day Nursery in Selby and says she isn't surprised by the findings: "It is something we are seeing more and more, and unfortunately it seems to be the Mother who normally has to quit work or do fewer hours."
Theirworld chairwoman Sarah Brown, who is married to former UK prime minister Gordon Brown, is calling on governments to urgently prioritise spending on the early years.
The survey has "laid bare the scale of the global early years crisis and its impact on children in rich and poor countries alike" and change is needed because "early years childcare is as essential to a country's infrastructure as roads, hospitals and telecommunications", Mrs Brown said.
Sixty-five percent of UK parents questioned said they have had to make major financial changes, including taking on more work and spending less on food, in order to afford childcare.
Some 22% said they spend between 30% and 70% of their income on childcare.
Theirworld said children from wealthier and educated backgrounds tend to begin primary school ready to learn, but there are nearly 250 million children in low- and middle-income countries who are at risk of not reaching their full development potential due to poverty, inadequate nutrition, exposure to stress, and a lack of early stimulation and learning.
The charity noted that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt made childcare a central part of his Budget, providing an extra £4 billion over three years.
He also announced that in all eligible households in England every child under five will receive 30 hours a week of free childcare from the moment maternity leave ends.
However, critics have pointed out that this will not be in place until September 2025.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, appearing before the Commons Liaison Committee last month, denied that the childcare system is in crisis.
He said: "I think that announcements in the Budget were warmly welcomed by the childcare sector for what they're going to do, which is to increase the funding for childcare as it is now, but also expand the provision to cover some of the gaps in the existing system and move us into a internationally quite generous position relative to our peers on childcare."