Meeting of the Parliament 08 March 2016
One of the biggest challenges facing mums and dads in my Dunfermline constituency and in communities right across Scotland is the cost, quality, availability and flexibility of childcare. It is particularly ironic that we are debating the issue in the evening, because virtually no childcare is available for mums and dads who work at nights and at weekends—at hours that do not fit in with what is on offer from most childcare providers—or indeed when working hours change from one day to the next, as they seem to have done in Parliament in recent weeks.
Like many working mums, with three children of primary school age, I manage to juggle childcare only due to a combination of out-of-school care, granny and grandma, friends and my husband, but not everyone has that support network. Childcare challenges certainly do not end when children start school, but at least the days of paying out more for childcare than for rent or the mortgage are largely over. However, Scottish parents still face an average school club bill of £53 a week for each child and, according the Family and Childcare Trust survey, school club bills for parents in Scotland have risen by 8.5 per cent in the past year alone.
On pre-school childcare, the Family and Childcare Trust found that the average cost of 25 hours of childcare for a child aged nought to two is £111 a week in a nursery or £102 a week with a child minder, and the figure reduces only slightly for children aged two and over. Many parents who have more than one child in childcare will be paying double that or more.
A parent with two children who are under the age of five will pay a staggering £900 a month for 25 hours of childcare. That adds up to over £10,000 a year. If a parent works full time and needs full-time childcare, the sum will be higher still. With nursery costs for children who are over two years old up 4.1 per cent last year in Scotland—that is higher than anywhere else in the United Kingdom outside London—the bills keep on rising.
Childcare costs are the biggest single bill that parents face, and it is little surprise that, for many mums and dads who are faced with such high childcare costs, there is little option but to reduce their hours at work or give up their job or career altogether. That impacts on not just parents, but on our society and our economy.
Many parents will struggle along and end up in debt. A report by Save the Children found that a third of low-income parents get into debt to pay for childcare. Other families find the money by cutting back on food, day trips and holidays. Many more manage only by working opposite shifts, which undermines family life and home relationships.
It is not just a question of costs. The Family and Childcare Trust research found that just 13 per cent of Scottish local authorities have enough childcare to meet the needs of working parents. That contrasts with the situation in England, where 45 per cent have enough childcare, and Wales, where 40 per cent have enough childcare.