What is childcare really costing you?

What’s childcare really costing you?

Childcare (for 0-14 year olds) is a big issue for families. Save the Children and Daycare Trust want to find out what parents think about childcare. To do this they have launched the biggest consultation of parents across Scotland the rest of the UK. They are asking parents to fill in a short survey to tell them what issues they face in finding suitable childcare and how the cost of childcare impacts on families.

How you can help?

They want to hear from as many parents in Scotland as possible. Whatever your situation – they want to hear from you!

They have set up an easy to fill in survey which you can access by visiting www.savethechildren.org.uk/childcare.

The survey is open until Friday 3rd June and they hope to get the views of over 70,000 parents.

Fife Gingerbread want to encourage all their members, friends and family to fill in the survey and get your views across.

What happens next?

The results of the survey will be used to produce reports for the UK and Scottish Governments. It will include recommendations for how government can support families, specifically the poorest families to access high quality affordable childcare.

Policy Context

There is strong evidence of the importance of high quality, affordable and accessible childcare (for 0-14 year old) in transforming the lives and life chances of families living in, or at risk of, poverty. Consequently, childcare has a critical role to play in tackling child poverty. It can benefit children’s development and wellbeing and support parents to enter employment, in turn increasing families’ income. Yet many parents living on low incomes report significant challenges in being able to access high quality affordable childcare – cost, availability, accessibility.

The survey comes as new OECD research puts Britain among the countries with the most expensive childcare costs in the world, accounting for 28% of the average net-income for a two-earner household – more than double the OECD average of 13%.

It costs an average of £177 per week for a full time nursery position for a child under two in Britain.  For families living in severe poverty, with an annual income below £12,000 (£230 a week), the high cost of childcare is simply too expensive – making it impossible for them to find work or keep a job that brings in enough money to cover the childcare bill as well as their living costs.

The recent reduction in the amount of childcare costs covered by Working Tax Credits, from a maximum of 80% to 70%, leaves many families on low incomes with an extra £546 a year added to their childcare bill.