Are we sleepwalking into a child care crisis?
If you’re a parent in the UK, I’m sure you’re already well aware of the staggering cost of childcare in our country. It was recently reported that the cost of full-time childcare is now a staggering £164 per week; This may seem like a perfectly acceptable, and dare I say reasonable, figure for those who work in the city and earn more than £65,000 per year.
However, the average salary in the UK is currently £26,500, and considering that one parent, usually the mother, must stay home to care for the child, it is not surprising that more and more families are choosing not have children to avoid economic problems.
The days when the father was the sole breadwinner in most households are now a distant memory and both parents are now required to enter the working world in another to support not only their children, but themselves. . However, do the rising cost of living and stagnant wages continue to mean that Britain is currently lumbering towards some kind of childcare crisis?
This, along with recently proposed cuts to tax credits, has left many parents and soon-to-be parents incredibly anxious at the prospect of facing financial hardship when their child is born. I can tell you that from my own experience of talking to parents at my local nursery in West Hove, many of them have been forced to take out loans or borrow thousands of pounds from family members to ensure they have enough money to pay for childcare.
While some may simply dismiss the idea as scaremongering, there’s no denying that £164 a week is simply not sustainable for most working families in this country. Ironically, those who can afford this kind of money are often those with only one parent working and, once again, it is the poorest in society who seem to be disadvantaged.
The Conservatives have tried to convey that they are aware of this dilemma by pledging that 300,000 families will enjoy free childcare for their 3- and 4-year-olds. However, since the announcement, major concerns have been raised due to the fact that there is believed to be a funding gap; there is also little promise of real support for those who are forced to go out to work and leave their 1- or 2-year-old children in the care of friends or family.
What will become of the child care industry remains to be seen, although one thing is for sure, real difficulties could arise down the road as the makeup of our society changes further. While it is possible for the wealthiest in society to stay at home and even hire a babysitter or nanny, what about the rest of us working people who have a stark choice between taking care of our children or going to work?
