UK's childcare is third most expensive in world and 96% of parents blame government failings

The UK has the third most expensive childcare system in the world, with a full-time place costing on average £12,376 a year, as a poll of over 20,000 parents reveals most blame government childcare policies.

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No less than 97 per cent of the 20,046 UK working parents polled have said childcare is too expensive and 96 per cent believe the government is not supporting them with childcare costs.

Childcare costs higher than mortgage

Parents say poor childcare policies are crushing them financially with one third of parents paying more for childcare than their rent or mortgage. One third of parents earning less than £20,000 are reducing their spending on food or housing to pay for childcare.

Parents struggling the most are on the lowest incomes, rely on universal credit, are single parents, have a black ethnic background or have disabilities.

The survey was organised by Pregnant Then Screwed, the TUC, Mumsnet, Maternity Action, Music Football Fatherhood, Mother Pukka, Tova Leigh, the Women’s Budget Group, Gingerbread, Working Families, the Fatherhood Institute, Black Mums Upfront, Cathy Reay (That Single Mum), The Fawcett Society and the Young Women’s Trust.

It is based on 20,046 UK parents with at least one child aged 18 or under, and was conducted between 20 July and 31 August 2021.

Childcare affordability debate secured by 100,000 signatures

The survey comes as a debate on childcare in parliament was secured for Monday 13 September, after over 100,000 parents signed a petition demanding an independent review of childcare affordability.

The charity Pregnant Then Screwed has tweeted ‘We need #childcarechangenow if we want our economy to recover from the pandemic. The Government continues to ignore the early years at their peril.

‘We demand an independent review of our childcare sector, it’s cost and affordability. The Government cannot continue to tell us that they have ‘committed a record amount of funding to this sector’ and pretend it’s all fine. It’s not fine’.

The poll also revealed 56 per cent relied on grandparents for childcare and 75 per cent of parents used private nurseries.

The findings follow the grim news that childcare in the UK is the third most expensive in the world, behind only Slovakia and Switzerland, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The vast majority of parents responding to the poll (97 per cent) are women. Parents said poor access to childcare was stifling attempts at gender equality as only 16 per cent of women said childcare had not hurt their seniority or wages. Two thirds of female respondents cut their hours after giving birth, compared with just over a quarter (26 per cent) of men.

Only 17 per cent of respondents said the government’s shared parental leave made a difference to their family. Some 90 per cent of parents backed at least three months of parental leave for fathers paid at minimum wage level. Some 94 per cent said subsidised childcare should start from the end of paid maternity leave.

Paternity leave use among eligible families is less than four per cent.

Ros Bragg, the director of Maternity Action, tweeted: 'We at @MaternityAction will continue campaigning for the changes to law, policy and practice which enable pregnant women and new mothers to remain in work. We also need to support the many, many individual mothers who want to challenge unfair treatment by their employer.'

Single parent campaign group Gingerbread tweeted (@Gingerbread) ‘Childcare survey results are in... And it's no surprise to our followers that #singleparents are among those struggling hardest with childcare costs'.