According to a new report from campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, one in four parents (26 per cent) who use formal childcare say that the cost is now more than 75 per cent of their take home pay.
Three in four mothers (76 per cent) who pay for childcare, say it no longer makes financial sense for them to work. More than half of parents who use formal or informal childcare say they have had to reduce the number of hours they work due to childcare cost or availability.
Based upon a survey of more than 24,000 parents, the report also reveals:
- For one in five parents (22 per cent), childcare costs are more than half of their household income.
- One in three (32 per cent) parents who use formal childcare say they have had to rely on some form of debt to cover childcare costs.
- four in 10 parents (45 per cent) who use childcare said they often have to choose between paying for childcare and household essentials.
To highlight the findings, Pregnant Then Screwed has partnered with Saatchi and Saatchi to launch a new campaign, ‘A Cry For Help’, to demand an urgent clear investment plan the childcare sector.
Born from the scientific insight that human brains are hardwired to respond to the sounds of a baby crying, under the campaign a piercing sound of a baby’s cry will play out from Ocean Outdoor Streetside billboard and across Spotify and social media from tomorrow (Friday 3 March). The idea is that the cry, which has been developed in partnership with Professor Lauren Stewart, Professor of Psychology and founder of the Music Mind and Brain MSc course at Goldsmiths, University of London, will be impossible to ignore.
'Parents are at the end of their tether.'
Founder of chief executive of Pregnant Then Screwed Joeli Brearley said, ‘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.’
She added, ’The question isn’t whether we can afford to invest in childcare, it is whether we can afford not to. Unless we want to lock parents out of the labour market entirely then we need investment and we need it now.’
Franki Goodwin, Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi commented, ‘If you’ve ever tried to do anything whilst there’s the sound of a baby crying nearby… it’s impossible… even if it’s not your baby. Humans are hardwired to take notice of this sound and we’re proud to have partnered with Pregnant Then Screwed to create a campaign impossible to ignore and we hope that in these weeks before Mother’s Day, our message will be heard and listened to.’
Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridge Philipson said the findings showed the ‘damage that the Government’s failing childcare system is having on our economy and family finances’.
The Early Years Alliance said is was 'unacceptable that soaring early years costs, driven by Government underfunding, have made it impossible for parents to work and have forced some families into debt'.
