Childcare costs are forcing one in four UK parents to quit work or drop out of education

More than 7,000 parents and carers from the UK, Brazil, India, Netherlands, Nigeria, Turkey and the US with children under the age of seven were questioned for global children’s charity Theirworld.

The research found 23 per cent of UK-based parents had either quit work or dropped out of their studies to avoid childcare costs, compared with 17 per cent of their counterparts in Brazil, 16 per cent in Turkey and 13 per cent in Nigeria.

Some 74 per cent of parents in the UK said they find it difficult to meet childcare costs, compared with 52 per cent in India, 57 per cent in the Netherlands, 59 per cent in Nigeria, 68 per cent in the US and Brazil, and 72 per cent in Turkey.

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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.

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, in order to afford childcare.

Theirworld said children from wealthier and educated backgrounds tend to begin primary school ready to learn, but there are nearly 250 million children in low- and middle-income countries who 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 noted that Chancellor Jeremy Hunt made childcare a central part of his Budget, providing an extra £4bn over three years.

He also announced that in all eligible households in England every child under five will receive 30 hours a week of free childcare from the moment maternity leave ends. However, critics have pointed out that this will not be in place until September 2025.