The survey, which is compiled yearly using figures that have been submitted by Family Information Services in England, Scotland and Wales, examines the cost of childminders, nurseries and after-school club provision, along with the availability of childcare. This year’s survey found significant rises in childcare costs for all forms of childcare.
In England, the cost of a nursery place for a child of aged two years plus has increased by 4.8% since last year – far exceeding the growth rate of 2.1 per cent for the average wage in the same period. It’s another dent in the pockets of families, who for many, will not see a significant pay rise – or any pay rise at all.
The average yearly expenditure for 25 hours nursery care per week for a child under two stands at £5,028 for parents in England, £5,178 for parents in Scotland and £4,723 in Wales. The average yearly cost of 25 hours care from a childminder for a child under two stands at £4,670 in England, £4,664 in Scotland and £4,687 in Wales. If your child attends full-time nursery, the costs are even greater.
London and the South East of England are still the most expensive places for all forms of childcare provision in Britain. In London, the average cost for 25 hours nursery care for a child who is less than two years is £118.54 (£6,164 a year). But the same provision in the North West, for example costs less than half of that, at £82.70 a week (£4,300 a year).
The most expensive nursery reported in this year’s survey was located in the West Midlands, costing £11 per hour. Parents using this nursery for 25 hours per week could therefore conceivably pay £14,300 per year (or £28,600 for full-time childcare, which is more than the average salary in that region!).
Local authorities have a legal responsibility to ensure that sufficient childcare is available in their boroughs, but despite this 60 per cent of Family Information Services said that parents had reported a lack of available childcare in their area in the past 12 months. This means that parents will undoubtably have to resort to more expensive private childcare, or just not be able to send their children to nursery.
Commenting on the survey, Anand Shukla, acting Chief Executive of Daycare Trust said: “When parents sit down to calculate their family finances and see childcare costs increasing far faster than their wages, it is no wonder they may think twice about the economic sense of staying in work. These high, rapidly rising costs are particularly significant given the number of people not receiving cost of living pay increases this year, the increase in VAT , and rising costs of other household goods, particularly food and fuel.
“These findings add to our concern about the reduction in the childcare element of Working Tax Credit, which from April will only cover up 70% of childcare costs for low income working families, rather than the current 80%’, she added. “Once this change comes into place, some families will effectively have an extra £546 a year added to their childcare bill. Yet parents in the UK already spend an average of one third of their net income on childcare costs – more than in any other OECD country. “
