Financial pressures causing families to feel the strain

The research, which followed 11 families over a year, who were feeling the strain from reduced incomes, rising living costs and cuts to benefits and services, has been published by the Family and Childcare Trust to coincide with the re-naming of the Daycare Trust and Family and Parenting Institute, following their merger earlier this year.

The report, Family Matters - Understanding families in an Age of Austerity, includes families from a range of backgrounds and varying levels of household incomes, and names four key drivers of fragility in family life in austerity. These are: the cost of childcare, the cost of living, the expense of running a car and credit.

Childcare

Despite valuing formal childcare, families using it, and even those who are not, commonly found it unaffordable and inflexible. This was a barrier in particular for second earners. As a result, some parents reported not being able to work as much as they would like, a situation often compounded by unsympathetic and inflexible employers and cuts to subsidies and assisted places. Several parents also said that they relied a great deal on family members to provide childcare.

Even the financially better-off families in the study considered childcare unaffordable and incompatible with work without significant family support.

The majority of the families, especially those on lower incomes, appreciated the 15 hours of free childcare. However, one mother said she would prefer to be able to use the free hours in blocks rather than spread across the week to allow her to work on the days her twins are at nursery.

The inflexibility is also problematic for parents of school-age children. One mother said she found it hard to obtain work compatible with her youngest child’s school hours and suggested that more out-of-school provision might make it easier for her to get a ‘regular’ job. Without this provision, she has to rely on informal care provided by her mother and older daughter. However, she is reluctant to do this as she recognises the extra strain it could place on family relationships.

A survey of 1,000 parents also carried out by the charity alongside the study, revealed that 37 per cent of parents suggested that increasing the affordability of childcare was among their top three priority areas for Government investment to help families in Britain in the future. This figure rose to 52 per cent parents of the under-fives.

Cost of living and owning a car

Rising food and energy costs were mentioned as a challenge by all families. As a result, families in the study employed a range of cost-saving coping strategies, including buying cheaper food or growing their own and selling unwanted possessions.

Of the parents who took part in the survey, 89 per cent thought that the financial situation for families in Britain has got worse over the past year, with the majority being affected by increases in the amount spent on food, petrol and household bills.