North Yorkshire families angry over soaring childcare costs

A new report's found 1 in 10 parents now say child care costs are the same or more than their take-home pay.

The campaign group "pregnant then screwed" say their survey reveals the knock-on effect of ever increasing costs and are calling for more investment from the Government.

Joanna Gowthrope lives in York and has three young children. She says it's really tricky to try and stay in work and be a Mum: "Now we've got the 30 hours free funding, because she is over the age of 3, but up until that point it was really hard to think can I really put my child into childcare whilst going to work, if I know that it is just going to cover the bills and nothing else will be left." She says in the last few years costs have skyrocketed: "It used to be around £45 or £40 pounds a day but now it's nearly double that, but the wages, I don't think I can say that they have nearly doubled."

It's as a new national report into the childcare crisis from Pregnant Then Screwed has revealed 3 in 4 mothers (76%) who pay for childcare, say it no longer makes financial sense for them to work. They surveyed more than 24,000 parents and found for 1 in 5 of parents (22%), childcare costs are more than half of their household income. Additionally, 4 in 10 parents (45%) who use childcare have shared that today they often find themselves choosing between paying for childcare and household essentials. 

Joeli Brearley, founder and CEO of Pregnant Then Screwed commented: “This is our ultimate cry for help. Parents are at the end of their tether. Many have now left the labour market, or work fewer hours, because our childcare system has been abandoned by this Government. We don’t just have a cost of living crisis in the UK, we have a cost of working crisis with 1 in 10 mothers now paying to go to work; and that’s if they can even secure a childcare place - we’ve lost thousands of providers in the last year because they simply cannot afford to remain open.’’

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We continue to review all options to improve the cost, choice and availability of high-quality childcare for working parents.

"We're also investing millions in better training for staff working with pre-school children, and have set out plans to help providers in England run their businesses more flexibly."

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