Aahh, summer days. Full of sunshine, sandy toes, and sangria. Or, if you’re a working parent, six, long, headache-inducing weeks of trying to cobble together enough childcare to scrape by until September. And this year, it seems, is going to be tougher than ever.
According to recent figures, families across the country are facing a 5% jump in holiday club prices and a lack of available childcare, all set against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis. The Coram Family and Childcare annual Holiday Childcare Survey has found the average place of a holiday club now costs £148 a week, a 5% increase from 2021 and more than double what parents pay for after-school care in term time.
Most UK workers get 5.6 weeks of paid holiday a year, yet working parentshave 13 weeks of school holidays to cover.
The charity found families will spend almost £900 for six weeks of holiday childcare per school-age child, not including additional meals that would have otherwise been eaten in school. The survey also found vast price differences across the UK, with parents in inner London, for example, paying an average of £161 per week compared to £135 in the West Midlands – an 18% price difference.
And that’s if they can find available holiday cover. Only 27% of English local authorities have enough holiday childcare available for parents who work full time, down 6% since 2021. Parents of disabled children face the most challenges with only 7% of local authorities having enough summer holiday childcare for these families. And because so many childcare providers have gone out of business in the last year, there are fewer places available and the places that are left have become more expensive due to inflation.
‘We’re seeing record levels of inflation across the economy. I think it is very likely all of that will translate into record prices for childcare this summer,’ says Ellen Broomé, Managing Director of Coram Family and Childcare. ‘Families across Britain are reeling from record inflation and this steep rise in holiday childcare will push many further into financial distress. Many parents, particularly mothers, will have no choice but be locked out of work altogether or struggle to pay for basic necessities such as food or rent.’ She also expects some parents – in particular, single ones – will end up paying to go to work during the holidays, due to the cost of childcare.
‘Holiday childcare is key economic infrastructure. The lack of childcare places for working parents is a serious problem – not just for families but for the country’s economic output.’
Meanwhile, the charity Pregnant Then Screwed surveyed over 27,000 parents about their summer childcare arrangements alongside the Coram Family and Childcare survey and found a third of parents say the cost of summer childcare is either the same or more than what they earn, while half have been unable to meet their summer childcare needs.
Because of a lack of availability and soaring costs, almost half will need to take unpaid leave to manage childcare over the summer.
As the cost of living crisis continues to worsen, 35% of the parents surveyed said they will have to cut back on food, heat, fuel and clothing due to the cost of summer childcare, and 18% will get into debt.
‘We don’t just have a cost of living crisis, we have a cost of working crisis, with almost half of parents being forced to take unpaid leave as they cannot afford formal childcare over the summer,’ says the charity’s founder Joeli Brearley. ‘The Government’s response will be that they are promoting the tax-free childcare scheme, but our research found only 16% of respondents were aware of it. Promoting tax-free childcare is not the solution to this problem. This needs decisive Government action and a clear strategy to ensure childcare for children of all ages is both accessible and affordable before we push more families into poverty.’
Followers of The Juggle, Grazia’s parenting platform that launched a campaign for affordable childcare last year, know only too well the struggle of what we’re calling the Summer Juggle. ‘Although pre-school is often the hardest financially, it felt the most stable in terms of [being] year round and hours,’ says one follower. ‘Whereas school has felt to me much more like piecing bits together which costs less but takes up much more headspace.’
Another wrote: ‘The school years, with their 3pm finish and long summer holidays, just aren’t set up for working parents.’ While another said, ‘Oh gosh the school years are so hard! I have a 2-year-old in nursery and a 5-year-old in school. I work four full days and my husband is part-time. It’s costly in time and energy and really hard work.’
Pregnant Then Screwed are asking parents to attend a national March of The Mummies protest on the 29th of October where they will demand the Government invests in good quality, affordable childcare for all children.