Working mums are quitting their jobs or seriously considering leaving work due to the soaring cost of childcare.
New research reveals that 20 per cent of parents have considered quitting their job in the last 12 months, while 15 per cent have actually left work because of the cost or availability of childcare.
One mum told The i Paper she resigned from her job after returning to work following her second child after realising her salary would only cover the childcare costs for one child.
Tessa Graham, 33, who lives in Cambridgeshire, has two children, Ezra, three and Delta, one.
Ms Graham took a year of maternity leave from her job as a team leader for a company specialising in security solutions and door automation following the birth of her daughter Delta.
However, soon after her return to work, she realised the cost of childcare far exceeded what she earned – her salary only covered the cost of childcare for one of her two children.
The costs of childcare
Childcare costs have surged in the UK and are among the highest in the world. It was previously reported that over 90 per cent of nurseries were preparing to raise fees as a result of an increase to employers’ national insurance contributions.
The average cost of childcare in the UK for children under two years old is £159.61 per week (part-time) or £305.11 per week (full-time), according to Coram .
Due to surging costs, the Government announced as of last May, all eligible working parents of children who will be nine months old before 1 September can apply to access up to 30 hours of funded childcare a week.
However, there are certain criteria to get this funded provision. Working parents must be:
- In work or starting a new job
- On sick leave or annual leave
- On shared parental, maternity, paternity or adoption leave
“After taking the full year off following having my daughter, I returned to work and asked for some flexibility, but they said they could not do anything,” she told The i Paper .
“When my son was in nursery full-time, it was costing us around £1,100 a month – so to have both of them in would cost us double that. My monthly income from my job was roughly £1,400 so it barely covered the childcare for one child.
“I put in so many flexible working requests , but my place of work would not agree to any flexibility in hours unless I took a demotion from my role – but that would have meant less money so I didn’t want to do that.
“In the end, I felt I had no choice but to resign as returning to work to make no money and have someone else raise my children during the most fundamental years seemed wrong to me.”
The couple are currently only eligible to have 15 hours of funded childcare for their son Ezra. As Ms Graham is not working, they are not eligible for funded hours for their one-year-old daughter because you have to be working a minimum of 16 hours a week to qualify for this.
She said: “I’m not in a job so I don’t qualify for free childcare hours for my daughter – but I can’t afford to send her to a childcare setting because I don’t have a job. And I can’t get a job because I don’t have childcare.
“I feel like I am stuck in a never ending vicious cycle at the moment.
“I didn’t want to go to work to effectively work for free and pay someone else to look after my children when I would rather be doing it.
Read Next: Teachers forced to quit due to rising cost of childcare and inflexible working for family life
“But at the same time, I want to be in work and have that identity back and contribute financially to the household and show my children a good work ethic.”
She added: “They need to be in a childcare setting because it does so much for their development, social skills and education – but I don’t want them to be somewhere all day, Monday to Friday while I work full-time hours as I still want to enjoy time with them while they are young.
“It is so disheartening and frustrating that so many parents ultimately feel forced to quit their jobs because childcare costs means it doesn’t make financial sense for them to keep working.”
New polling by More In Common for the Early Education and the Early Education Childcare Coalition suggests that promises of a childcare revolution are failing to materialise, with high fees causing 15 per cent of parents with a child under-five to quit their job in the last 12 months.
Childcare sector experts say that a lack of Government funding to cover rising costs including National Insurance hikes is continuing to impact families.
Many families are struggling to keep their heads above water with the research showing that one in three (32 per cent) of parents of under-fives are having to borrow money from family or friends or take out a credit card or loan as a direct result of childcare fees in the last 12 months.
The polling took place between 9 to 19 May 2025 and a total of 2,516 people were polled.
Sarah Ronan, director of the Early Education Childcare Coalition , said: “From September, the Government will be purchasing 80 per cent of childcare in England, yet it continues to pay providers less than it costs to deliver those hours.
“If providers are to stay open, they have to pass on that shortfall to parents with fee increases. The reality is that continued underfunding is pushing up costs for parents, holding down wages in the sector and driving staff shortages.
“We are hearing from providers who are scaling back, turning away funded places or even considering closure because the numbers just don’t add up.
“At the moment, it feels like the Government is giving to parents with one hand and taking with the other. The Government’s focus on early years is the right one, but if it is serious about putting money back in the pockets of working families and supporting children to thrive, it must properly fund the sector and urgently review a broken model that fails to reflect real costs.”
Dr June O’Sullivan, CEO of London Early Years Foundation said: “Parents were promised a childcare revolution, but what they’re getting is a childcare crisis.
“Despite last year’s increase in funding, long-standing underinvestment has left our infrastructure vulnerable.
“This means the sector is being forced to pass on rising staff costs and rents, food and utilities increases, combined with the unexpected employer National Insurance contributions hike – and that’s just to keep nurseries open.
“The uncomfortable truth is that without urgent funding and reform, families and society will continue to pay the price in more ways than one.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “High-quality, affordable childcare plays a vital role in our Plan for Change, helping us meet our target of getting tens of thousands more children ready for school each year.
“We’re backing families with record investment, with early years funding expected to rise to over £9bn next year. On top of this, we are providing a further £75m grant this year to support providers in delivering more places, and we have announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45 per cent.
“The extensive Coram survey of childcare costs shows the real difference the expanded childcare entitlements are already making – with costs for families accessing 15 hours more than halved – and the full 30 hours coming into effect from September, saving parents up to £7,500 per year.”
Comments
Post a Comment