Nursery World - Cost of childcare forcing parents to quit their jobs

New research which shows that nearly a fifth of parents have had to leave their job because of the cost of childcare, calls for subsidised care from the age of nine months.

Campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed want childcare to be subsidised from when children turn nine months old

In a survey of over 1,800 parents, 84 per cent said that the cost of childcare creates financial anxiety in their family.

Because of the financial burden of childcare, a total of 17 per cent said they had to leave their jobs and 62 per cent have reduced their working hours.

A further 17 per cent have had to leave their job due to a lack of childcare provision, while 22 per cent have had to leave their job due to a lack of flexible childcare.

Campaign group Pregnant than Screwed, which carried out the research, said given that it is mostly women who ‘bear the brunt of childcare’, the findings add to the ‘motherhood penalty’ and gender pay gap.

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