New analysis from Save the Children says the English childcare system is costing mothers as much as £3.4 million a day because they are prevented form participating in the workforce. If you add that figure up it comes to a whopping £1.2 billion in lost earnings every year. Save the Children estimates that there are approximately 89,000 mothers with children aged under five who would like to go back to work but are unable to because of childcare.
Expensive and complex system
Research suggests that the number one barrier to work for parents who have young kids are childcare issues. Whilst there have been some reforms in the UK, Save the Children says parents continue to face childcare costs that are sky-high and struggle with a system that is unnecessarily complex. Almost half of all parents say they have no clue or are confused about the support they are entitled to, which means they do not have access to childcare and cannot work resulting in financial hardships for families.
The cost of childcare would exceed tax
According to research, the average take home pay for a mother that works full time is just over £20,000 and if both parents work full time, then the average pay is roughly £45,000. Even when we consider free childcare hours and include government subsidies, the cost of childcare for two kids can exceed £8,000 a year. To put that into context that would be 39% of the average mother’s take home pay or twice the amount she would be paying in tax. Many parents say the cost of childcare is simply too high and some even claim it costs more than their mortgage or rent making it nonsensical to go back to work.
System simply not helping
According to a report authored by Save the Children, whilst there are some mothers who make the choice not to work during their children’s early years, many would still like to work. The findings show the system simply does not deliver enough help despite significant reforms. A mother in an average family with young children to look after may be losing anywhere between £3,400 and £11,400 either because they can’t work or cannot increase their working hours.
System needs to be completely reformed
In order to deal with the problems of accessibility, complexity and cost in the childcare system, Save the Children is urging the government ministers whose responsibility is to develop childcare policy to establish the next steps for implementing a new system in England as quickly as possible. The new system should be affordable and offer high quality as well as be easy to use so that the childcare system can fit around the lives of the families that need it.
