Childcare crisis has forced one in four parents to quit their job or drop out of education
The cost of childcare has forced one in four UK parents to quit their job or drop out of education, a new study has found.
More than 7,000 parents and carers from the UK, India, Netherlands, Nigeria, Turkey and the US with children under seven were questioned by global children’s charity Theirworld.
UK parents were the most likely to find it hard to meet soaring childcare costs – with 74% saying they found it challenging. This compared to 52% in India and 68% in the US.
Most worryingly, the research found 23% of UK-based parents had either quit work or dropped out of their studies to avoid childcare costs, compared with 17% of their counterparts in Brazil, 16% in Turkey and 13% in Nigeria.
Sixty-five percent of UK parents questioned said they have had to make major financial changes, including taking on more work and spending less on food.
Some 22% said they spend between 30% and 70% of their income on childcare.
Elvira Grob, 41, who is a lecturer in design on a zero-hours contract, has been left feeling “close to burnout” because of her £975-a-month nursery bill.
Ms Grob, and her partner Michael do not want to give up their daughter’s place at a London nursery to save money because she “loves it there” and it is good for her development.
As well as retraining and studying for a degree, she returned to work two days a week when Yoomi – now ten months – was six months old.
She said: “I work in the evenings, I work when Yoomi sleeps, and I work at weekends.
“My income covers Yoomi’s childcare but I have rent to pay, and I also have to pay for my studies. It’s got to a point where I’m considering dropping my degree to help us pay our bills.”
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Childcare reform biggest ‘in my lifetime’
The crucial first five years
Theirworld chairwoman Sarah Brown, who is married to former UK prime minister Gordon Brown, is calling on governments to urgently prioritise spending on the early years.
The survey has “laid bare the scale of the global early years crisis and its impact on children in rich and poor countries alike” and change is needed because “early years childcare is as essential to a country’s infrastructure as roads, hospitals and telecommunications”, Mrs Brown said.
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Why is childcare so expensive?
This cost of childcare means those from wealthier, and more educated backgrounds start school ready to learn, but nearly 250 million children in low and middle-income countries are at risk of not reaching their full development potential due to poverty, inadequate nutrition, exposure to stress, and a lack of early stimulation and learning, the charity said.
The first five years, Mrs Brown said, are “are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity but this is being squandered on a global scale”.
“Providing for children in their early years must be treated as a public good, not a private test of a family’s financial strength,” she added.
Free childcare funding – but not until 2025
The survey comes after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt made childcare a central part of his budget, with an extra £4 billion in funding over the next three years.
All eligible households in England with a child under five will receive 30 hours a week of free childcare from the moment maternity leave ends.
But critics have pointed out it will not come into full force until September 2025.
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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, appearing before the Commons Liaison Committee last month, denied that the childcare system is in crisis.
He said: “I think that announcements in the Budget were warmly welcomed by the childcare sector for what they’re going to do, which is to increase the funding for childcare as it is now, but also expand the provision to cover some of the gaps in the existing system and move us into a internationally quite generous position relative to our peers on childcare.”
Liverpool have won the Premier League title after a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s men did it in impressive style, turning over Spurs in a convincing win.
It was a rocky start for the Reds after Dominic Solanke put the north London side ahead.
However, fortunes quickly changed in the first half as Liverpool scored three times without a response.
Captain Virgil van Dijk (centre) celebrates. Pic: Reuters
Salah on his knees in celebration after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott (below) and Jarell Quansah celebrate after full-time. Pic: PA
Slot cheers after the full-time whistle. Pic: AP
In the second half, it took until the 63rd minute for Mohamed Salah to make it 4-1 before a fifth followed.
The Reds have won the title in manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge, and move level with fierce rivals Manchester United on 20 league championships.
But it makes them arguably the most successful English club ever as they have won more European Cup or Champions League titles.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “It’s special and it’s something that we don’t take for granted. It’s amazing.
“A lot of emotions before the game, during the whole week, but we got the job done and we (are) truly deserved champions of England. (Liverpool is) the most beautiful club in the world and I think we deserve all of this. Let’s enjoy the next couple of weeks and let it sink in.”
Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas poses with a Premier League trophy cut out. Pic: Reuters
Manager Arne Slot and his team after the final whistle. Pic: AP
Slot took over last summer from Jurgen Klopp, who guided them to their previous and maiden Premier League title triumph in 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown saw matches played behind closed doors.
He is the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League and the fifth man to do so in a debut campaign after Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini, and Antonio Conte.
Speaking to Sky Sports he said: “They [the players] did an outstanding job today. The main job was to win. Everyone said we had got it already. But we had to make sure and we got over the line.”
Several players, including Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, and Mohamed Salah, played leading roles in both the 2025 and 2020 campaigns.
Van Dijk and Salah recently signed new contracts extending their careers at the club.
Mohamed Salah takes a selfie with fans after scouring the fourth Liverpool goal. Pic: AP
Fans at Anfield during the game. Pic: AP
Fans in the stands at Anfield before full-time. Pic: Reuters
Liverpool will have to wait until the final game of the season – at home to Crystal Palace on 25 May – to be presented with the Premier League trophy.
It will be the first time the club’s fans will have seen their side lift the top-flight title in person since 1990.
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Two pro-Palestinian demonstrators have thrown red powder on Tower Bridge – just moments before leading runners in the London Marathon went past.
The protesters were arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance and remain in custody, said the Metropolitan Police.
A video shared by Youth Demand, which is calling for a trade embargo on Israel, shows two people jumping over a barrier that separates spectators from the race course.
The pair, wearing t-shirts that say “Youth Demand: Stop Arming Israel”, are then seen standing in the middle of the road on the bridge.
Pic: LNP
They throw red powder in the air as an official marathon car goes past displaying the race time.
A motorbike with a cameraman on board continues along the route, while a second motorbike stops and one of the riders gets off and pushes the pair out of the way, just before the men’s elite runners pass.
Several police officers then jump over the barrier and detain the pair, the footage shows.
There appeared to be no impact on the marathon.
More than 56,000 participants were expected to take part in the 26.2-mile race through the capital.
Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the men’s elite race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 27 seconds, while Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa shattered the women’s-only world record in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds.
Assefa beat the previous best of two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
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Pic: LNP
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “At around 10.38am, two protesters from Youth Demand jumped over barriers at Tower Bridge and threw red paint on to the road.
“Marathon event staff intervened to remove the protesters from the path of the men’s elite race which was able to pass unobstructed.”
The force added that they were “quickly supported by police officers who arrested the protesters on suspicion of causing a public nuisance”.
The Met said the paint “appeared to be chalk-based” and was not expected to “present a hazard to runners yet to pass this point”.
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