It wasn’t my finest hour – walking into the school office and crying over the breakfast club waiting list. But as a single mum to three young boys, working without proper childcare was becoming impossible.
Alice, a part-time gymnastics coach and the sole carer of her three-year-old daughter, describes a similar strain. ‘I am constantly being punished for being a single parent,’ she tells me.
Alice’s daughter attends a school nursery, but despite working she doesn't qualify for the government funded 30 hours childcare for working parents of 3-4 year olds because she earns below the annual threshold of £9,518 per annum. This makes it impossible for Alice to find additional work. Alice is entitled to Universal Credit childcare support, but she must pay the fees upfront before being reimbursed for up to 85% of her costs, leaving her struggling every month. The irony of Alice’s situation is relatable for many single parents, she needs childcare to work but needs work to access childcare.
Alice and I may live in different towns, but we are both at the mercy of a system designed for couples. While an imbalance in caring responsibilities continues in many two-parent families, in the homes of single mums, there’s no balancing to be had. Just a mad juggle between caring, earning and nursery runs.
On my nightmare morning in the school office, as I dashed there with my older two children having dropped my youngest at nursery, I felt like everything was about to come crashing down. I’d returned to work from maternity leave one month earlier and three months later than planned because I couldn’t secure a nursery space despite having joined numerous waiting lists months before my youngest was even born. Eventually a place became available in a neighbouring borough, but the lack of childcare for my older two meant dragging them with me on the one hour round trip to nursery before we all started our day.
Behind the horrendous childcare statistics are the stories of single parents like me, overlooked and undeserved.
Ruth Talbot
The childcare crisis is often told in numbers. Year long waiting lists. Excessive fee hikes. Gaping holes in provision. But behind the statistics are stories of single parents like me, and countless others, who are overlooked and underserved; parents at the coalface of the childcare crisis whose needs are repeatedly ignored.
Of course, it’s not surprising I struggled to find childcare when data from Coram Family and Childcare reveals that only 35% of local authorities have enough places for under twos. Wraparound care is even worse; only 14% of local authorities report sufficient places for 5-to-11-year-olds. This figure drops to a mere 6% for children with disabilities; a figure Rachel*, a single mother to a four-year-old child with additional needs, is only too aware of.
Rachel is the epitome of the single mum juggling it all: living with a disability, being a sole carer for her child and running her own business. She struggles to meet the £793 monthly earnings threshold to claim the free 30 hours childcare and relies on the universal 15 hours, alongside Universal Credit support. However, administrative errors by Universal Credit means Rachel is still waiting for much of the financial support she is entitled to, leaving her in debt.
Rachel’s child needs one to one care, but not only is there very little available, the costs are unaffordable. ‘I have no idea how to make this work. My daughter hardly makes it to nursery school so my income continues to decline.’ To make matters worse, the rules for couples means that if Rachel had a partner and that partner was in work, they would qualify for the 30 hours funding without her working. Single parents with a disability aren’t afforded the same support, leaving those who would benefit the most missing out.
Meghan Meek O’Connor, senior policy adviser at Save the Children UK, says the government must do more. ‘High-quality, affordable childcare is a vital service for parents and children. When it works, it provides a lifeline for many parents, enabling them to work. It also has a significant impact on children’s outcomes in the early years and beyond. However, the current funding system excludes single parents like Rachel, and the high costs mean parents on the lowest incomes are spending the highest percentage of their income on childcare. The Government must build on their recent childcare investment to make sure there are sufficient places available and that all children can benefit, including those from single parent families.’
The system is ‘unfair’ says Alice as she describes having to fight to survive with little childcare support. Single parents need to be given ‘more childcare hours regardless of their earnings’, she tells me.
At Single Parent Rights, the campaign group I set up during the pandemic to address the invisibility of single parents, we regularly hear from those struggling with the unfairness of the childcare system. Urgent reform is needed so that single parents are afforded the same support as those in couples. In acknowledgement of the dual role single parents play as sole carers and primary breadwinners, single parents should be given priority for childcare spaces. Creating a fairer system would enable families to benefit from the economic and educational opportunities childcare provides for parents and children alike.
*names have been changed.