Childcare ‘costing half worker’s salary’
CHILDCARE in Halton could cost workers more than half their salary if working part time.
According to the annual Childcare Survey from the Family And Childcare Trust, the average price of 25 hours in a nursery per week for a child under two is more than £100 in the North West.
By comparison, the average weekly earnings for part time workers in the region is around £174, meaning residents could be left with very little after childcare costs.
Prices are slightly lower children are left with a minder instead of at a nursery, and also start to go down once a youngster hits the age of two.
However, in general it makes much more financial sense to work full time and pay for full time childcare.
On average full-time workers in the North West take home £502 a week, while a fulltime nursery place for a child under two will cost around £189 a week.
While this still means childcare will eat up 38% of weekly earnings, workers are left with ● more than £310 at the end of the week compared with less than £75.
The good news is, things become a whole lot cheaper once children start primary school, so workers will only hand over so much of their salary for the first five years or so.
After school clubs in the North West are still a significant outlay for many parents, but are only about a quarter of the cost of a full time nursery place, setting parents back around £46 a week.
Across England, childcare can cost as much as two-thirds of a part time worker’s weekly salary, with the average cost of a part time nursery place for a child under two coming to £117 per week.
Average earnings across the country are £178 a week for people who work part time.
Families in inner London faced the most expensive childcare, with costs coming to up to 88% of a part time workers weekly earnings.
All three to four-year-olds in England can get 570 hours of free early education or childcare per year, which is usually taken as 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year.
The 15 hours of free childcare per week has been available to two-year-olds since the end of 2013, provided their parents meet certain criteria.
Children can be eligible for the funded childcare if their parents receive certain benefits, such as Jobseeker’s Allowance.