Having a kid feels ‘like financial suicide’ as more parents take on debt to pay for childcare – report says

Published

1 year ago

February 18, 2024

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Having a child “feels like financial suicide” for parents, the head of a charity has said, after a study found more Britons are taking on debt to pay for childcare.

Commissioned by campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, the survey said almost half of parents of under-fives in England say they have taken financial blows as the cost of childcare bites.

Speaking after the study was released, the charity’s founder Joeli Brearley said that as well as a cost of living crisis, “we’ve got a cost-of-working crisis that disproportionately impacts mothers”.

She said many parents who want to have more children “cannot afford to do so”, and added: “Being a parent is tough enough, but when having more children means sacrificing your income, procreation feels like financial suicide.

“If we aren’t careful, becoming a parent will be a luxury item, and the economy can’t afford to pay that price.”

The government’s Money Helper website says on average, the cost of sending a child under the age of two to nursery full time is now £269.86 a week, or £14,030 a year.

Around 46% of parents told the charity they have gone into debt or raided their savings to raise their children, up from 35% in last year’s survey.

Polling also found that around 70% of mothers agreed that “after paying for childcare it doesn’t make financial sense” for them to go to work. Half of the fathers surveyed felt the same.

It comes after it was announced last year that from April, eligible working parents of two-year-olds will be able to get free 15 hours of childcare support. From September, the 15 hours will be extended to parents of children aged nine months to three years.

The government hopes that by September 2025, all eligible working parents with children aged nine months and up will be able to access 30 hours of childcare a week.

But the survey also found that 90% of parents do not believe the government’s promise that childcare costs will reduce.

Other findings included 37% of parents saying they had to use credit cards, take out a loan or borrow money from family or friends to pay for childcare.

More than a fifth of parents, 22%, also said they had to withdraw money from savings or their pension.

The study used a final sample of 5,870 respondents, which were randomly selected from a pool of 35,800 survey respondents.

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Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget

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16 hours ago

July 13, 2025

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Heidi Alexander says 'fairness' will be government's 'guiding principle' when it comes to taxes at next budget

Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.

Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.

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Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.

Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.

“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”

Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.

“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”

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Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”

He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.

Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.

Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.

Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.

With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.

The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.