Childcare bills force parents to give up jobs

It called on the Scottish Government to take urgent action, and said the crisis was affecting parents on all incomes.

It said average childcare costs in Scotland are more than half of average part-time weekly earnings – a higher proportion than anywhere else in the world. Douglas Hamilton, head of Save the Children in Scotland, said: “Scottish parents are being forced out of work by a combination of the highest childcare rates in Britain and a lack of measures to help families meet costs.

“Childcare is becoming a luxury that only families earning a very good wage can comfortably afford. For families on low incomes they simply won’t earn enough to cover childcare bills as well as living costs, making work an unrealistic option.

“The government must give the poorest parents a chance to work their way above the poverty line. We know that the best way out of child poverty is to help parents into jobs.”

The charity called on the Scottish Government to extend the number of people entitled to free childcare and nursery education.

It said only a handful of Scottish councils are delivering 15 hours free nursery education for three and four-year-olds, a statutory requirement in England.

And of those families in severe poverty, nearly half have cut back on food to afford childcare and 58 per cent said they were or would be no better off working once childcare is paid for.

Save the Children said it was calling on the government to make childcare more affordable by introducing an entitlement of 15 hours childcare per week for two-year-olds, starting with those families on the lowest incomes. It also called for the introduction of out of school care entitlement for five to 14-year-olds for children living in low income households.

A government spokeswoman said: “Although this report from Save the Children covers the UK as a whole and is not specific to Scotland, it raises some important issues about the challenges around the cost and accessibility of childcare, which we will consider carefully.

“It is vital that parents can access high quality, affordable childcare which meets their needs.

“We want Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up, and we need to support parents so that we can achieve that aim.”

Other key findings were that a quarter of parents across the UK have given up work and a third have turned down a job because of high childcare costs.

Save the Children said cuts to the working tax credit had dealt a “massive blow” to hard-working families struggling in severe poverty, with almost half considering giving up work because they can no longer afford childcare. The cut has added on average £500 per year on to the childcare bill for some low income families, the charity said.