One in four UK parents have had to quit a job or drop out of education to avoid the rocketing cost of childcare, a major global poll has found.
The survey, conducted by Hall + Partners for global children’s charity Theirworld, polled more than 7,000 parents and carers with children under school age across the UK, US, the Netherlands, India, Brazil, Turkey and Nigeria.
In the UK just under a quarter - 23% - of parents say they have either quit a job or dropped out of their studies to avoid childcare costs. UK parents also face a tougher struggle to afford nursery and childminder fees than their counterparts in the Netherlands, US, India, Brazil, Turkey and Nigeria.
A staggering 74% of UK parents say they find it difficult to meet childcare costs, compared to 52% in India, 57% in the Netherlands, 59%in Nigeria, 68% in the US and Brazil and 72% in Turkey.
Almost two-thirds - 65% - of UK parents have had to make major financial changes to their lives to pay for childcare, including taking on more work and spending less on their children’s food.
Just over a fifth - 22% - of UK parents spend between 30% and 70% of their income on childcare.
Sarah Brown, Chair of Theirworld, said the findings ‘laid bare the scale of the global early years crisis and its impact on children in rich and poor countries alike’.
The charity’s Act For Early Years campaign is calling on governments to urgently prioritise spending on the early years, saying scientific research shows that 90% of a child’s brain is developed by the age of five.
‘For a child, the first five to six years are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but this is being squandered on a global scale,’ said Sarah Brown.
‘Providing for children in their early years must be treated as a public good, not a private test of a family’s financial strength. Parents around the world should no longer be reduced to hoping for the best, crossing their fingers that the inadequate care they are often forced to use isn’t a risk to their child’s safety or their future prospects in life.
‘We need to see a revolution for the early years that brings together governments, businesses, international agencies, parents, frontline workers, civil society, youth campaigners and grassroots groups to improve the lives of the world’s youngest children.
Justin van Fleet, President of Theirworld, called for every child to be given a ‘comprehensive package of care and education’ for their first five years of life and that this should include ‘adequate nutrition, the opportunity to be stimulated through play and protection for their health’.
‘Eight years ago, world leaders set a target that by 2030 every girl and boy should have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education,’ he said. ‘But this target is off track and there is no recognised plan in place to achieve it. Chronic underfunding means that more than half of all children around the world don’t have access to the childcare they need, and around half of pre-primary aged children are not enrolled in any form of early education.
‘Radical change is needed in how we provide for children and their families. It needs to become a global priority, with not just proper investment but bright ideas and bold policy making across the board. Only then will we give all children the start in life they deserve.”
Currently only 0.5% of UK GDP is spent on early childcare and education, according to the latest OECD data. Spending is highest in Iceland (1.7%), followed by Sweden (1.6%), Norway (1.4%), France (1.3%), Denmark (1.2%) and Finland (1.1%).
Joeli Brearley, CEO and founder of Pregnant Then Screwed responded to the report, saying: ‘The crippling cost of childcare is stripping parents of their career and pushing more and more families into poverty every week.
‘This data is mortifying, we should be ashamed by how badly parents are being let down compared to less developed countries. For years, childcare and early years education has been underfunded by the Government with devastating consequences for children and parents.
‘Our recent research found that for three quarters of mothers who use formal childcare, it doesn’t make financial sense for them to work. With prices set to increase further, we will see more parents forced out of their jobs and onto the breadline. This tends to fall onto the shoulders of mothers - with hundreds of thousands currently unable to work and 1.7 million working fewer hours than they would like to due to a lack of affordable and accessible childcare.
‘This isn’t a “mummy issue” this is an issue for the whole of society - it contributes to the skills gap, it inhibits economic growth, and it ensures only the very wealthy can access early years education for their children thereby entrenching inequality.
'We need the funding promised by the government in the recent Spring Budget to meet the funding requirements of £9.4 billion to truly put the UK back on track and to prevent more parents losing their career to childcare costs. We also need the eligibility criteria to include those who are training or studying, the majority of whom are currently excluded from the funded hours and tax free childcare scheme, preventing many women from upskilling.’