£40,290.
This is the cost of me deciding to return to work full time after giving birth. That's our childcare bill up to when our son starts school. Just childcare. Not extra costs for trips etc whilst he is in there. Not extra costs if we have to take unpaid leave to look after him when he is sick (that or use up our valuable holiday which should be used to recuperate).
The system in the UK is well and truly broken. How many people can actually afford that? It’s unsustainable. Add in the rising costs of, well, everything. It's a disaster and will force many women out of work.
In Sweden childcare is capped at £126 a month and varies below that on an income based scale. As a comparison, we initially paid £980 a month for a nursery before they raised the costs twice in 1 calendar year to what we pay now - £1,200 a month.
Maybe if we all shout loud enough, somebody will realise how unsustainable this is.
No wonder for many women there is no choice. The choice is made for them. When childcare costs more than you bring in a month, there’s no other option but to stay home. This country is pushing out half of its workforce.
Most families need two incomes to survive, yet we live in a society that makes it almost impossible for many mothers to work. The UK has the second most expensive childcare system in the world. This is not sustainable!
What parents need, what we all need is reform. We need an infrastructure that enables us to raise our kids whilst not being pushed into poverty. We need affordable childcare and a system that allows us to raise families in a country that is already suffering from ageing population.
We are raising the next generation of doctors, teachers and engineers. We are raising the people we all will one day depend on to look after us. We are raising the future workforce.
Stop making it impossible to look after our children. Spiralling childcare costs are crippling us. My husband and I are lucky to be in jobs that pay enough for us to able to afford childcare. Not everyone however can say that. Many are not that lucky. Single income families or one parent families… my heart aches for you. I don’t know how you do it.
Something needs to change.
