Childcare Costs Cancel Out Wages For Tenth of Parents: New research, released by the insurance company Aviva, has suggested that one in ten UK families utilise one earner’s wages solely to cover the costs of childcare and commuting– with one in twenty (4%) women saying that they are paying to work, as their wages do not cover their costs.

Childcare Costs Cancel Out Wages For Tenth of Parents

The CBI employers’ organisation has called on the Government to extend childcare support to parents with children aged one and two, as well as to raise the threshold for national insurance.

More than two fifths (43%) of parents with children aged up to 5 claimed that they utilise childcare to enable them to return to work – the average cost being £11,700 per annum according to the Family and Childcare Trust. The Family and Childcare Trust’s figures are based on an average family with one child in full time nursery and another making use of an after school club.

Aviva’s survey, which asked the views of 2000 parents with children aged up to five, gave a median figure of £243 a month for what was left over for a lower earner’s family, once work wear, childcare costs, commuting and work-related equipment had been removed.

The government has claimed that it is doing more than prior administrations to try and tackle the costs of childcare, and that more parents than ever before can now take advantage of free childcare. However, a recent report by the Pre-School Learning Alliance said that the government’s childcare support policies were facing chronic under-funding.