One in three parents spend more than a third of pay on childcare, poll finds

The TUC has called on the government to provide an urgent boost in childcare funding after research found that around one in three parents (32%) with pre-school aged children spend more than a third of their wages on childcare.

Polling published today, commissioned by the trade union federation and carried out by BritainThinks, saw 18% of respondents with children not yet in school report that they spend between a third and half their salary on childcare and 15% say that the costs take up more than half of their pay.

Commenting on the findings, Frances O’Grady warned that the cost is “putting huge pressure” families, arguing that people “desperately need a plan to get wages rising across the economy, or too many families will have to choose between turning their heating on or putting food on the table”.

“Every worker in Britain should be paid a wage they can live on – that goes up with the cost of living. And the government must commit to a boost in childcare funding to ensure decent affordable childcare for everyone,” the general secretary added.

BritainThinks researchers also found that parents from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds (BME) and disabled parents were more likely to spend a larger proportion of their income to cover the cost of childcare.

32% of BME parents told researchers that they spend more than a third of their salary on childcare while one in eight (12%) have childcare costs of more than half their wages. The corresponding figures for white parents were 16% and 6%.

More than a third of disabled people (35%) with children reported spending over a third of their pay packet on childcare. Around one in seven, or 15%, reported that they spend more than half of their salary on childcare costs.

Labour’s Helen Hayes said that childcare and early education is “wholly unaffordable for too many families” and warned that their difficulties would be exacerbated by tax increases and rising energy bills from April this year.

“Unlike the government, Labour would put families first. To help ease the cost of living, we would halt the National Insurance tax rise and use a one-off windfall tax on oil and gas producers to cut household energy bills by up to £600,” the shadow minister for children and early years said.

113,713 parents signed a petition calling on the government to carry out an independent review of childcare funding and affordability. 96% of more than 20,000 working parents said in a survey in September last year that ministers were not doing enough to support parents with the costs.

The research showed that many low-income parents and those on Universal Credit were resorting to using food banks as a result of the high cost of childcare earlier this month. The government rejected the call, saying it had announced £500m in the 2021 autumn spending review for early years services.

The UK has the third most expensive childcare system in the world behind Slovakia and Switzerland, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, with a full-time place costing on average £12,376 a year.