Childcare costs forcing children to live in poverty

The cost of childcare is forcing families out of work and children to live below the breadline.

Families on low incomes are cutting back even further on their spending to fork out for the high prices of day care.

Many are having to turn down jobs and even considering leaving work because they can’t afford the childcare bill.

The research from Save the Children and Daycare Trust finds that UK parents are spending nearly one third of their income on childcare – the highest amount in the world.

To pay the childcarers, 50 per cent of parents have been forced to cut back on food spending and 58 per cent said they were no better off working.

Since cuts were made to working tax credit, some families are now having to pay an extra £1,560 on childcare costs each year.

Save the Children and Daycare Trust are urging the government to pay up to 80 per cent of childcare costs for low income families, to stop people from being unable to work.

Save the Children’s Head of Poverty, Sally Copley said: “The government is undermining its own ‘make work pay’ policy by not funding the costs of childcare for the poorest families. Childcare in the UK is amongst the most expensive in the world and families on low incomes simply don’t earn enough to cover the costs and are being priced out of work as a result. The recent cut to the working tax credit has only made this worse with many parents realising they are no better off working and they and their children remain trapped in poverty. The government must give the poorest parents a chance to work their way above the poverty line. We know that the best way out of child poverty is to help parents into work.”