Childcare crisis risks pushing women out of workforce, says TUC

Two in five working mothers with children under 10 in Britain are struggling to find the childcare they need, as breakfast and after-school clubs remain shut and care from friends and family remains limited, according to a survey for the TUC.

The lack of access to childcare has resulted in a crisis that risks turning the clock back on decades of labour market progress, warned Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress.

“Women workers have borne the brunt of this crisis – both on the frontline and at home,” she said. “But this can’t go on. If we don’t take this childcare crisis seriously, women will be pushed out of the workforce.”

The ICM survey found that 41% of working mothers with children under 10 cannot get, or are unsure whether they will get, enough childcare to cover the hours they need from this month. Nearly half (45%) said they do not have their usual help from friends and family, while 35% said they cannot get places at after-school clubs and 28% have lost childcare provided by school breakfast clubs. The same proportion (28%) do not have their usual nursery or childminder available.