Blog: The high cost of childcare

Blog: I remember well my first childcare bill and it came with a sharp intake of breath, writes Tracey O'Sullivan.

Yes, it was a shock how much that monthly cost was going to add to our outgoings each month. And we had only one child at nursery and only three days a week at that time.

When we increased it to four as he settled in it was almost a third of the money I was going out to earn and yes, It was almost as much as the mortgage.

I've no doubt parents will have heaved a heavy sigh at the news today that the bill to look after their offspring while they earn a living has soared twice as much as the money coming into the house.

It's certainly not easy to keep up while budgets are already stretched by the general rise in the cost of living and that pesky VAT rise last month.

It can feel like a very tough slog while not having much to show for it. I'm not surprised that mothers with two children to pay for are contemplating why they should bother returning to work.

I mean it's hardly worth the manic mornings, the constant feeling of being tired coupled with the insane sense of guilt that you are doing everything by halves, never mind the lack of time with your children if at the end of the month you only have a pittance to show for it.

I know mums who have sat down to tot up the figures and realised that once the childcare bill was paid they would be doing all the above for less than £150.

As the famous supermodel saying goes – "I wouldn't get out of bed for that."

The thing is – what is the answer? Because when I broke down my nursery bill I was actually surprised at how little it was.

That may sound like a strange statement because like anyone else I had wondered how our second biggest bill of the month was for nursery fees.

But it brought back to me something said by a friend when we were teenagers. Both 15 and both eager to make some money we were keen to babysit for the neighbours. While I was glad if there were some snacks in the fridge and a gesture fee of their choice she had a structured pay scheme in place with a hourly rate for before and after midnight and it was a decent sum of cash for four hours often spent sitting watching television if there wasn't any stirrings from your charges for the evening – well at least that's how I saw it when I scoffed at her scheme.

But her reply had me stumped.

"During those hours you are responsible for those people's children and their home, the most important things in their lives. That kind of responsibility in a job deserves to be properly paid".

You just couldn't argue with her. So when I sat down to think through my childcare bill realising that it amounted to less than £35 a day (a potential 10 hours so less than the minimum wage) for the care of someone so precious to me it didn't seem very much either.

I mean that supermodel saying works here too. So it's not as if we can call today for some kind of cap or reduction on fees. I mean the amount I pay covers meals made on site everyday from local produce and fresh ingredients and some of the best childcare staff in the business – simply put, it's a bargain. But it doesn't make it any easier on those elongated purse strings.

Then again the last thing I would want to see for any family is reliance on low cost care where corners are cut. That would be a disaster for all concerned. Perhaps it is time for the Government to do more to help financially and put in place measures that could help hard-working families to economise such as a mortgage deal on the primary residence which is at a fixed rate for the duration of the loan so people can budget effectively - really your home should never feel like a financial gamble or profit and loss. Or what about more tax relief on nursery bills or for employers that could be willing to help with the costs to retain valuable workers? The help could come in the shape of free voucher sessions for children younger than the current age of three when that scheme comes into play. Or moves to make employers take a closer look at offering some kind of flexi-time scheme to parents so they can share care of their children more often. Or is it indeed time for couples to sit down and work out what is most important to them?

Is it time we went back to basics and worked out if a second job in the family is actually a necessity or more of a luxury and that doesn't just mean mum's job. It means whichever one is most dispensable – that would be a decision for an individual family. But once taken could they find they have a better life-work balance at the end of it and maybe not even miss the extra cash once expenses are trimmed. It certainly is a year in which tough decisions are going to have to be made in many a household across Shropshire.

The question is will we be any better off at the end of it – even if our bank balance isn't.