Childcare costs rise 6% in past three months alone, says survey

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/jan/20/childcare-costs-rise-three-months-survey

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The cost of childcare has risen by 6% in the past three months alone, according to research which found that a quarter of unemployed parents wanted to return to work but could not afford to have their children looked after.

Childcare search website Findababysitter.com commissioned the research for its annual childcare report.

The report reveals parents struggling with returning to work because of the availability and cost of childcare. More than half (55%) of parents questioned think the government is not doing enough to support them when it comes to childcare, a figure which rises among parents who have more than one child to 57% and among parents with mortgages to 60%.

On average, 25% of unemployed parents said they would prefer to work, but can't due to the costs of childcare, a figure which rose to 40% in London. Findababysitter.com attracts more than 200,000 monthly visits and 2,100 daily log-ins and has around 10,000 childcare professionals' profiles, with live-out nannies and part-time nannies the most in demand.

Its founder, Tom Harrow, said he started the site out of "sheer frustration" when trying to find care for his own child. "When I pick up the newspaper in the morning, and I see headlines such as 'Mums spend at least 14 weeks of their annual salary on childcare', I wonder what the government is playing at."

They'd only need to spend 10 minutes on our site to see what parents need and want. They want to work, be successful, and become the best role models for their children.

"The government's short-sighted response to the childcare crisis in the UK could be the straw that breaks the camel's back – the complete undoing of a harmonious democracy. They must act smart, and soon."

The 1,001 parents questioned were asked to rank barriers to getting childcare from 1 to 5 and cost was the main concern, followed by safety, location and availability. Conscience is the last concern on UK parents' minds, but mums are still feeling guiltier about leaving their children than dads are with 7.2% of mothers and 4.5% of fathers ranking conscience as their number one childcare concern.

Other findings were that eight out of 10 parents said digital technology enhanced their child's early years' development although fewer childcare professionals agreed at 78%.