ISLAMABAD/LONDON: Increased childcare funding is expected to feature in the UK government’s budget this week to ease pressure on families, especially women.
In the 38-nation OECD, the UK has some of the highest childcare costs, costing a family over a third of their income (29%) compared to just 9% in France.
As a result, some parents have been forced to quit their jobs or dramatically cut back on their hours, with women frequently bearing the brunt of this, and the UK economy has also suffered.
Natalie Ford claimed that having her son was “the only option” she had. She told AFP, “I had no idea how much nurseries cost. “That came as a little shock,”
She and her husband spend more money on childcare for their 19-month-old kid a couple of days a week than they do on their mortgage, totaling over £900 ($1,100).
Nationwide, according to the Family and Childcare Trust charity, the average nursery bill is £285 a week for a child under two, and much more in London.
Ford, 39, a resident of Brentwood in Essex, an area east of London, attempted to work from home and negotiate more flexible hours with her employer. But when it was rejected, she had no choice but to give up. While her husband, an insurance broker, also works remotely, she is now an executive personal assistant who works from home.
‘Sacrifice’
Only publicly funded help exists once a child is three years old. After that, the government pays for 15 hours of childcare a week and for low-income households twice. But the amount paid to nurseries often needs to cover their total costs, which have raised with inflation.
Ford said, “My husband is a very hands-on dad. He does pick and drop at nursery, but I feel like, even being a higher earner of the two of us. Being the mum, I must make more sacrifices than he will.”
The 40-year-old actress Lucy Milnes has yet to do much acting since the birth of her second son two years ago, but she insisted that things needed to change for the better.
As a result, she and her husband chose to enroll him in childcare three mornings a week, which was the minimum requirement set by the facility. By doing this, Milnes aims to break “a vicious spiral” and give herself “time to secure more jobs.”
Childcare cost
According to government statistics from the previous year, the proportion of women who chose not to work to care for their families increased by 5 percent for the first time in at least 30 years. It was 13 percent among women between the ages of 25 and 34.
Compared to 6.9 percent of men, 28.5 percent of those unemployed stated they did so to care for their families. Consultants PWC cited the influence of childcare costs on women’s work as a critical factor in the pay gap between men and women.
“This has a huge impact not just immediately, in terms of their mental health, in terms of money, but also it has a long-term impact,” said
Brearley, whose group wants reform on parental leave, childcare, and flexible working hours. “That’s why we see many women livings in poverty when they are older because they have lower pensions than men do.”
British employers are demanding reform of the system to help ease the labor shortage in the country. Fashion designer Rachel Herr, 39, had to give up Mondays when her daughter was born last year to reduce childcare expenses.
She makes up for it by working on Saturdays from home. Finally, she and her husband decided to relocate to Ireland, where she was born. Childcare costs were not the only issue: the cost of living and mortgage rates also skyrocketed.
“When we worked it out, we realized that from October, we’ll start to go into debt: expenses will be more than our income, so we’re forced now to sell our house and move to Ireland,” said Herr. “It’s taking a step back.
And it’s more limiting for my career because I have fewer career options in Ireland.
