Childcare costs now exceed annual mortgage bill

Updated
Childcare costs outstrip mortgage bill
Childcare costs outstrip mortgage bill

Pic: AFP/Getty

The average British family is now forking out more on childcare than they spend on their mortgage each year, a new report has revealed.

Figures compiled by the Family and Childcare Trust show that parents with two children spend some £7,500 each year to ensure that their two kids are well cared for, around 4.7 per cent more than the average mortgage bill annually.


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Furthermore, some families were found to be spending more on part-time childcare than on their weekly shop.

Based on information gathered from local authority family or children's information services throughout the country, the report revealed that a family with one two-year-old child at nursery for 25 hours a week or less, and a five-year-old taking an after-school club, pays out, on average, £7,549 a year.

According to official data, the average yearly cost of a UK mortgage is £7,207. And for those with two little ones in full-time childcare, the annual spend rose to an eye-watering £11,700, a massive 62 per cent more than their mortgage bill.

In total, the average British parent, then, hands over more than a quarter of their salary for childcare.
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Anand Shukla, chief executive of the Family and Childcare Trust told the Daily Mail: "When even part-time childcare costs outstrip the average mortgage for a family home - and many parents have to spend more than a quarter of their income on childcare - it's clear that our childcare system isn't fit for purpose.

"We need a childcare system that helps parents who want to work and contribute to the economy and gives children the best start in life."

Do you struggle with childcare costs? How do you think the childcare system could be changed to help working parents? Leave your comments below...

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