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.
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From February 2023: Grandmum sells home to pay childcare
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.
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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.
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.
The frustration and despair of Tory MPs felt towards Rishi Sunak’s top team is revealed in leaked WhatsApp messages obtained by Sky News.
One MP called the parliamentary operation a “shitshow” and “crazy”, while another said they were “at a loss” at the handling of a crunch Monday night vote on excluding MPs arrested on suspicion of serious sexual or violent offences.
They echo comments Tory MPs have made privately to Sky News.
There is fury today among Tory MPs after most found themselves on the losing side of a vote on a Lib Dem and Labour motion to exclude any MP arrested for a serious offence from the parliamentary estate, which would bring Westminster into line with many other workplaces.
The bulk of Tory MPs backed a different plan – to exclude MPs at the point of charge, arguing that MPs could easily become the target of vexatious complaints.
It was a free vote, which meant MPs did not have to vote on party lines.
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However, in a move that baffled Conservative MPs, when the Commons came to vote to overturn the opposition motion, the Tory whips did not put up “tellers” – vote counters – and so it could not be held, meaning the opposition motion passed.
This often happens because of disorganisation or confusion about events in the chamber, and often marks a failing of either the Tory whips or the Commons leader’s office – figures appointed by Mr Sunak.
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The WhatsApps show a government minister – Anne Marie Trevelyan – summoning Tories after initially losing the Lib Dem vote: “Anyone on estate who didn’t vote on amendment O please return asap! Lost amend by one vote. Otherwise the decision is arrest Not charge.”
Other Tories – Jill Mortimer and Jack Brereton – add weight to the appeal to vote down the Lib Dem motion, as does minister Greg Hands.
Brendan Clarke-Smith calls the Lib Dem plan to exclude MPs from parliament on arrest “an attack on basic civil liberties”.
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However, Cambridgeshire MP Anthony Browne suddenly announces three minutes later: “Division off!”
There is incredulity with Pauline Latham demanding to know what has happened, adding: “This is crazy.”
Miriam Cates explains to colleagues there were no tellers, Angela Richardson says “what a shitshow!”, Andrea Leadsom says “A sad day”. Ms Cates says: “I am completely at a loss to understand why those of us who shouted ‘no’ were not told that there were no tellers” – indicating frustration with Mr Sunak’s parliamentary operation.
Mr Clarke-Smith says: “Angela better hope her interview goes well then. Unbelievable.” This is a reference to Angela Rayner, who is currently under police investigation and could be interviewed under caution in coming weeks. She denies all allegations and has not been arrested and Labour says this will not happen, but even if she were, she would not be excluded because the reason for arrest is unlikely to pass the serious offence test.
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The dialogue concludes with Mr Brereton saying: “We’re all going to be banned from the estate now…” and Ms Cates saying, “Watch the vexatious complaints roll in…”
One Tory said there was an “end of days vibe” in the Tory Party and the messages were evidence of a “meltdown” because the Tory whips can’t handle simple votes.
The entity responsible for managing assets in the state’s pension system reported it held millions of shares of the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.