Childcare costs: Parents share struggles of 'broken' system

Nathalie said she felt let down by a system which was "not fit for purpose"

The UK has some of the highest childcare costs in the world. Parents are finding it hard to get nursery places and report quitting full-time work to care for their children. Nurseries are closing faster than new ones are opening and educators say staff are leaving for better paid jobs in supermarkets. The BBC has been speaking to those hit by a system which some say is not "fit for purpose".

"I feel really worthless... I just did not think it was going to be this difficult to get a nursery place."

Charlotte left her full-time job in IT to look after her and her partner's 18-month-old daughter.

When she picked up part-time work, she said it left her with £5 a day. After childcare costs, the couple were going into their savings by hundreds of pounds every month.

"Being out of work, not by choice, when you have worked and provided, it is really horrible. That is the bit that has affected me the most mentally," Charlotte said.

"It is not the example I want to set for my child either, because growing up my parents worked.

"I feel very lucky that I have this time with my daughter because I will not be able to get it back, but this was not the plan," she added.

Where the family live in Thornbury, near Bristol, there are two nurseries, but neither are able to offer a place as they are so in demand.

'Feels so broken'

Outside the town, there are nurseries in Alvestone and Charfield, which Charlotte would have to take a bus to as she does not own a car.

The latter only has one bus running to it every two hours from where she lives, which is "obviously not doable", she said.

"I do not know what anyone can do, it feels like it is so broken in terms of childcare provision in this area.

"It is not like they can just open another nursery and it will be fixed because you have to find the staff. There is no incentive for people to work in a nursery, and I do not blame them," Charlotte said.

How much does childcare cost?

The average cost of full-time nursery - 50 hours a week - for a child under two in Bristol is approximately £288 a week, according to charity Coram.

Equivalent care from a childminder is slightly cheaper, at nearly £13,000 for the year.

The UK is the third most expensive place for childcare among members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), behind Switzerland and New Zealand.

The OECD figures are based on a family with two children, aged two and three, who attend nursery for at least 40 hours a week, and take into account available state support.

Across the west of England, the number of early years providers dropped by 695 to 2,817 between August 2019 and August 2023, according to education watchdog Ofsted.

In the same period, nursery places declined by 974.

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Rachael, who lives in Keynsham in Somerset, said her newborn was automatically put on a waiting list for a nursery place which was initially intended for another of her children, before she had a miscarriage.

She said without these circumstances, either her or her partner would have had to quit their jobs.

"We realise we are lucky in the end to even have a place, but it is not OK that to get to where we have done, we had to share so much so early with the nursery manager.

"People say parents should be empowered to choose whether to stay at home or to keep working once they have children - but with the current childcare situation that choice is becoming an illusion," Rachael said.

Nathalie, from Peasedown St John in Somerset, said she is worried her family is in a "never-ending cycle of debt" because of childcare costs.

The 33-year-old and her husband are struggling with the upfront costs of putting their son in nursery while they both work.

Nathalie is unable to claim the Flexible Support Fund payment because she and her husband are both in work

"If you don't have savings, it is basically impossible to do," she said.

The Department for Work and Pensions said, because the couple both work, this disqualified them from receiving advance childcare payments.

Nathalie, who receives universal credit, said the family's childcare costs are £600 a month and they fund that with credit cards and by deferring their rent.

"Going to work is a much better option than staying at home, but it will be at a cost.

"Even though there is a lot of support in place, it can be very difficult when there are upfront costs to consider," she added.

What is the government doing?

At the moment, working parents of three and four-year-olds in England are eligible for 30 hours of free childcare per week during term time.

In the spring budget of 2023, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said this scheme would be extended to cover younger children on a phased basis.

From April, working parents of two-year-olds will get 15 hours of free childcare per week during term time, with children from nine months included from September.

Applications for the funded childcare scheme opened on 2 January and its expansion should have fully rolled out by September 2025.

Conservative MP for Stroud Siobhan Baillie is leading a cohort of backbench MPs lobbying the government to cut the cost of early years care.

Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie said she wanted to see more childcare choices for parents

She said: "It was always madness in my view that families had to wait until a child was three before free childcare came in, so nine months makes more sense.

"However, the early years workforce needs a massive boost for the expansion to happen so that is my focus now. These people are skilled and caring and need to be valued more.

"Looking after children is hard graft and a big responsibility. I go to work for a rest. Long term, I want to see more childcare choice for parents," she added.

'A sticking plaster'

Sam Williams is headteacher of Redcliffe Nursery School and Children's Centre in Bristol.

He praised the childcare workforce but said the government's support package was a "little bit like a sticking plaster".

"The increase in the funding rates are welcome and they will make a difference. But it does not address the long term, systematic underfunding of the sector," he said.

"It does not really identify a strong long-term vision with the resources required to achieve that," he added.

Sam Williams said childcare staff were leaving the sector for better paid jobs in supermarkets

Mr Williams said some people in the sector had been forced to leave, partly due to the cost of living crisis, to other public services like the NHS, or to work in retail or hospitality, which can pay a higher wage.

"You do earn more money going to work in a supermarket. It is often better paid than working in the early years.

"It is an incredibly emotionally demanding, intellectually challenging role. The importance of it, not to discredit other professions, is absolutely essential to the children and families now, but also the whole future of our society," he said.

'Paying to work'

Joeli Brearley, founder of charity Pregnant Then Screwed, said parents were experiencing a "cost of working crisis".

"The cost of childcare is now so prohibitive that many families who use it are paying to go to work.

"Parents wait anxiously for the government's promised reduction in childcare costs starting in April, but unless we have enough providers willing to offer this discount, the promise will not come to fruition for the majority of families.

"Meanwhile, it is likely the quality of our childcare will deteriorate significantly as nursery staff are expected to care for more children and cut costs - the impact on our children could be catastrophic."

The Department for Education said it was "delivering the single biggest investment in childcare in England's history".

A spokesperson added: "To support the early years workforce, we are launching a new national recruitment campaign in the new year and are looking to introduce a new accelerated apprenticeship route into the sector to help recruit new staff.

"We are also investing hundreds of millions of pounds to increase rates paid for government-funded hours, which can be used to support staff salaries, and are providing a package of training, qualifications, and expert guidance worth up to £180m."

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