Childcare is broken: is the UK failing its future? 

We also went to Finland to see how much better things could be for parents, nurseries and other childcare settings: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9sAdisqKsaM.html

Our tax money is so poorly and corruptly managed that we are taxed to death and get nothing back for it - that’s the issue!!

The uk needs a reboot .

As a Mum in the UK you honestly feel you cant win no matter what you do.

I worked at a nursery that was owned and run by the council. I was on decent pay, they trained me up for free and the cost for parents was affordable. Then the council sold the nursery to a private company. The first thing the private company did was DOUBLE the childcare fees and when they did this they sent out an email to all the parents saying the reason they were having to put the nursery fees up was because the government were raising the minimum wage. My wage actually went down when the private company took over - I was earning about 70p/hour above minimum wage before they took over and they reduced my wage to minimum wage.

Ok so I live in Sweden. My 2 1/2 year old has just started preschool (15 hours a week). Preschools are heavily funded by the state and fees are income based. The max you will pay per month for 15 hours a week is around 100 pounds and the childcare is very good quality. You have 1 staff member for every 4 kids. Staff are paid much better than minimum wage, often have university education and the focus is on early learning.

I worked as a teacher for a year so I can totally sympathise with the carers here who are at breaking point working mininum wage while having supposedly one of the most crucial jobs. It's soul destroying

The thing i've never really understood is where all the money actually goes? 3 days a week costs more than our mortgage but the resources are terrible, the hardworking staff and managers are seemingly paid nothing. Over a thousand pounds a month and they can't afford to pay staff a living wage..? Where is all the money going and why is it not to the staff who care for my kid?!

Every service in Broken Brexit Britain is a mess. It’s like Tories but even worse.

Being a single parent with no support is the most frustrating thing ever in the UK. We are not even considered😭 Every single school in the UK should have an afterschool club. Employers should also be encouraged to allow job sharing and they should have a percentage of staff who share jobs.

Unpopular opinion: shouldn’t we as parents consider that perhaps a better solution would be to call for a society that supports the ability for one parent to stay home with the children (whether that be Mum or Dad). At the moment that’s just not an option for most people due to low wages and a lack of tax incentives for parents of children. Especially considering that children do best being raised by their parents. That’s not to disparage the wonderful nursery carers out there and sure not everyone would want this but I think a lot of families - if they could afford to live off one salary and have one parent at home with the kids - they would choose to do that. We’ve made it an impossibility in the Uk and I think it’d be better to make that possible. You only have little people once. We should empower parents to be able to raise their children and be present for them and form healthy attachments. Of course, tragically in some cases children are safer in nursery than at home and so of course I understand it’s not a perfect solution. Nursery and child care are of course absolutely necessary in some cases i.e. single parents with no extended family support.

I live in Germany. My child is able to go to an income assessed private bilingual kindergarten from 1-6 years for 350 euros per months. She attends for about 7 hours a day. The teachers are well qualified and quite well paid here. It’s a million miles away from my friends kids in the Uk. The UK system is a joke by comparison.

Since becoming a mum 3 years ago I have been wondering why raising children at home (or in a setting) isn't valued more highly - the way I see it, we are nurturing the future generations and the Early Years are the foundations of a person's life. As I see it there is nothing more important!

Almost everything is broken in the UK, the society has gone to shits.

MINIMUM WAGE TO LOOK AFTER SCREAMING CHILDREN ALL DAY. All that stress is not worth it. They’ve got these “practitioners” for mugs

What isn’t finished in the UK would be an easier question. Years of failing politics and policies from all different parties but especially the conservatives

As a mother who loves her job, I would much rather the government financially help me, the actual parent, to raise my child. Instead, most parents resort to outsourcing their care to complete strangers. It’s just not right. I’m privileged enough to be able to work partime and be a full time mom but without my husbands help it would be impossible. We are very very privileged. I would also argue that whilst the nhs recommends exclusively breastfeeding during the first year of life, that is simply just not a possibility for the majority of mothers who cannot survive on the mere £700 a month and have to cut their mat leave short. As hard as it is I love breastfeeding, but man, it’s a privilege in the dystopian society we live in.

UK is just so broken over everything. 😢

Why are these children not working? In my day, we wouldn't have put up with this idleness. There were plenty of opportunities for little ones in the mines.

I couldn’t afford child care twenty five years ago. It worked out that it was cheaper for me to not work. Going to work, being at work costs money, taxation is high. Decades ago ordinary workers used childminders but the government has killed that cheaper childcare off with ridiculous regulations & paperwork but over subsidised companies were incentivised to open many large nurseries which are unsustainable as you see now. Someone I worked with recently was encouraged to put her two children in nursery with the government paying her £1200 per month toward nursery but that’s what she earned from her job! Why not give parents support to stay home with their own children for a few years until they start full time school instead as now the government force single mums out to any old job with sanctions. There were too many nurseries opened in the past decade all looking to make profit.

This is not happening in isolation; Everything in the UK is broken and dysfunctional, our economy is in terminal decline. We are all having to work longer and harder, only to still have less and less at the end of each month. Life is becoming financially impossible for millions of people - EVERYTHING is so damn expensive! A far cry from the days when ordinary working blokes could support a small family on a single income, and the mother didn't actually NEED to work. Nowadays both parents working full time is the NECESSARY and even then, many families are barely getting by. How the heck did we end up here? 😣

My nursery in France costs around 400euros per month.... And we can deduct 50% of the yearly costs to our taxes. I feel for you English mamas 🙏🏾

6.5 week summer holiday club for my six year old was over £800. Even between me and my husband we get 8 weeks off work between us. Schools have 14 weeks off a year. Which employers let you have 14 weeks off. Plus all the times kids get sick. It’s impossible

I absolutely loved my job as a level 3 childcare practitioner but I had to leave because I was living independently at 19 and couldn’t live off £7.50 an hour. I studied 2 years are gained an A*, I felt daft earning so little while my friends who left school completely at 16 were earning more with basic GCSE passes. And now a ratio of 1:5? In my circumstance that would equate to me earning £1.50 an hour per child. A lot of childcare workers are within the 17yr-20yr minimum wage category and are being exploited for cheap labour.

Child care is taken for granted and not respected because the work is typically done by women.

I quit my job as a forklift truck driver on an industrial manufacturing site, because it was more time & cost effective to be a stay at home parent than putting my kid in full time childcare. I'm scraping pennies together from freelance work, but I'd scarcely be any better off back in the workforce.

Nursery cost + housing cost = we had to leave the UK

It's honestly not just the UK. The cost of childcare is one of the driving forces behind the decrease in childbirths in many developed countries, especially in Asia. In the US as well, childcare can take up most of a parent's salary. But we also don't want to go backwards and stop providing educated and trained child care workers.

A country that is failing to provide basic and decent care for its children must be considered as a failed state

As a childcare worker in Italy, I can tell you it's the same here as well. We can barely stay afloat but the parents blame us cause the cost it too high. I and my colleges don't even make minimum wage! And with inflation and the cost of electrical bills rising, it's getting worse. Last winter was brutal. parents complaining the school was too cold, and we trying our best but unable to pay the bills.

Yes unionise care work.... underpaid and over worked...need to be valued in society

If the cost of housing wasn't so stupidly high this wouldn't be a problem

The government have deliberately ruined childcare. My wife was a childminder and a very good one. The government reduced pay for funded children to about £3 per hour. They bombarded her with red tape and increased the amount of paperwork and workload per child. An offsted inspector then downgraded her to " needs improvement" over real petty and arbitory reasons. She has now gone out and got a job because childminding isnt worth the aggro.Many other local childminders have left for similar reasons. And then the government look all confused like " why arent there enough childcare providers?" Unbelievable🙄

As a Japanese, watching this video, i thought the UK has the same problem as Japan and was surprised. It cost high to raise a child and the child carers get little wage in Japan,too. Our prime minister declared the revolution of childcare too😂 Bat the situation hasn’t changed.

Introduce the Scandinavian childcare model. Parents pay out of pre taxed income to subsidise their child care. They are then paying £200/£300 per month full time childcare. Providers are then not having to raise costs just to stay open. Or give parents a tax break so one parent can stay home until children start school

Paying these workers terribly- creates a domino effect. You pay people a more than liveable wage- a dignified wage enough to pay for housing etc then these nurseries will thrive. But the Tory ideology does not culminate in growth and life.

The Huyton nursery at the start was my son's nursery before he started school. It was an absolutely gorgeous nursery, the children adored it, the staff were incredible and the bond they had with the kids was really special. It's so upsetting and actually quite heartbreaking they've had to close and future children won't get to enjoy such a fantastic setting

There will be a second part on Wednesday where we look at one of the world leaders in early years education and see how different things could be in the UK.

As a child my father in the 70's could afford to buy a house and provide for us all. Why do we now force both parents into work. And let the government drag our children up.

Tbh nurseries/ early education should be a right, not a privilege ... Some children will get much more support at nursery than at home... starting with basic hygiene education for example ...

When humanity realizes the accruance of wealth is intended for the growth and expansion of the species and caring for our societies infrastructure and our ecosystem and not the absurd uplifting of an individuals indulgences then humanity shall evolve again.

It’s just as broken here in the US. I have a masters degree in early education, and sanitation workers make more than me. Nearly everyone makes more than me, and I’m expected to pay off my student loans on top of it.

The councils had their budgets stripped out, the government then chronically underfunded the "free" hours, meaning nurseries had to either charge parents who couldn't afford to pay it or close their doors. Nursery workers get paid shockingly badly as it is. This is what happens when you let the "Free Market" off its chain and aim it right at the throat of normal people.

Now imagine if ALL members of parliament take a PAY CUT, what an improve we’d have! Why on earth they need so much pay while our doctors, teachers, nurses, carers etc can’t afford to live or have to choose between heating or a loaf of bread! RIDICULOUS

Everything in the uk is broken.

its ALWAYS women having to give up everything for their child. if this crisis was affecting men the government would solve it in a heartbeat

I’m a childminder - I’ve been in childcare for 32yrs. So far I haven’t accepted the funding because I’d be paid £1.87 LESS per hour for the 15 ‘free’ hours. So I would lose over £1,000 per child if I offered the 15hrs free funding for 38wks of the year. Now the Government are going to offer it to 9mth olds+ so I’ve got no choice but to offer the funding. How can I afford losing potentially up to £5,000 to £6,000 per year?! It’s a JOKE! I’d also be paid TERMLY. Honestly, I rage daily about this. The government haven’t got a clue with how hard childminders work. I’d be supporting parents earning up to £100,000 per year. I earn around £24k - ridiculous! I’m all for parents getting help. I’ve been there myself - having to pay for my two children in childcare but the system HAS to CHANGE!!

It shouldn't be private, they should have nurseries in schools, so their building costs are immediately covered. Receptionists are mainly covered in school hours (bump their pay a bit though). Supply costs are decreased as you can buy in bulk with the school, energy costs are decreased, you can share a website, share an accountant etc. Kids will get used to the school they might end up spending years of their life in AND it isnt for profit.

Childcare is very expensive, but at the same time those who work in childcare gets paid minimum wage and works 2 jobs?, so most of the money is going to the childcare center owners eh?..

Childcare should be nationalised… need a basic national standard that gets ppl of all wealth/faith involved.

This is exactly why young couples are hesitant to have children: high cost of care, low paying jobs that aren’t raising their wages according to inflation/rising cost of living and elder /out of touch politicians who refuse to make way for better candidates…

No wonder the birth rate is falling so much. In this country, with both parents working full time, it’s still out of reach for them to afford a place to live and to have children without help. People get taxed on literally everything and the cost of living / child care services is extortionate and doesn’t add up. It is broken! What’s the future going to look like with far fewer people?! Who’s going to look after the elderly - now that people are living longer. It was a completely different story in the last century..

And they wonder why there is a birth rate crisis

Tax tax tax tax tax, everything goes to tax, tax the house, car, fuel, wages, inheritance. Theres no escaping these selfish bloodsucking elites

I used to be sure I would be a dad one day. Now I don't know whether I'll ever be in the right circumstances to raise a child or whether there will be the public systems in place to support that. Rent continues to take a bigger chunk out of income. Schools are overburdened, nurseries are closing, the NHS can't keep up, and even the bloody trains can't run reliably. What will be left of this country in ten years if we don't get some better people in charge? The Tories are the problem but Starmer's Labour won't be enough.

Childminders are cheaper yet nobody seams to know we are under EXACTLY the same guidance and inspection framework as a nursery. The only difference is size. Nursery across my road £9 per hour, my early years is £5. Oh, and I'm a qualified nursery nurse at level 3 yet only at nursery is good enough?

It's ridiculous. I left my job in childcare almost 5 years ago to have my 2nd child. This is part of why I haven't returned. But also because as someone who was staff and could get 50% discount putting my own children into my nursery, I still couldn't afford childcare on my wages! It would have literally all gone on childcare. So I couldn't return to work whilst my two where under 5, which my son still is at the moment. Now I still can't due to disabilities but before then the lack of affordable childcare was a huge factor in not being able to return to work. Plus as someone who has worked in an overworked, underpaid nursery, I know what the reality of what those places are like and wouldn't want my children there. The list goes on sadly.

I think most people in the UK know about the problem, but it'd be more helpful to actually break down the issue and analyse what's going wrong where. It seems a bit of a paradox to me, how can childcare be too expensive and not pay enough at the same time? If parents are paying 14K on average for a child, find two kids and you should be able to pay a full time person 28k a year. Where's it going wrong?

Parents need to choose the tried and true system of one staying home and caring for the children and one supports the family. Make it work. It's the best solution.

The situation in the UK is truly horrific. I'm a software engineer and I can't find a job.

When I was bring up my 2 girls in the 80's I wasn't required to work until they left school at earliest age 16. Now they want to get women back in the work force. It's fine for those who do want to work but many prefer to bring up their kids themselves which is every mother's right. It's totally outrageous to force mothers to look for work depriving kids and mother's of precious time of being together and putting a burden on mums having to juggle both home and work life. Plus the fact that financially it's just not profitable and has an adverse emotional effect on everyone. Who the hell gains anything. Why does the government put more money into childcare when when they could use the funds for better purposes instead of putting mothers. through agony. I was paid income support until my youngest left school. Which is far less than what the government pays for each child's childcare. Neither the government nor parents gain anything. Absolutely crazy.

I live in Norway (where all parents have access to affordable child care) so watching this is really baffling. For instance; is it legal to fire someone because they joined a union in the UK?

Wages are too low across the board, in every sector.

This has major implications for our society and the economy. An underfunded childcare system that costs half a parents salary (not feasible for a single parent) means one person leaves their job, then doesn’t add to the economy as much, then people have fewer children because it’s not financially possible to raise a child! Women can’t get back into the workforce if the costs of childcare are so high. It’s time to revolutionise how we prioritise childcare similar to Northern European countries. As someone who used to live in the US and lives in the UK, both of these systems are broken!

Nursery surely should be attached to schools. The Early Years. The staff then would be paid proper wages. The problem being Private Nurseries. Should be part of school life.

I’m from the Czech Republic, my husband is British and we’re living in the UK now, but we’re planning to move to Czech Republic once we have kids - nurseries, schools and universities are free of charge, great healthcare too. The total tax and charges burden in the CR is almost 48 % and 35% in the UK.

This is the sort of concern that has made me and my partner put off having children for so long. If the government want to improve the birth rate and ensure a future for our country, things like housing and childcare need to be their top priority

How do you expect parents to juggle looking after a child full time, working, paying rent, etc.. the only way is to be lucky enough to have a partner with a high paying job

The UK is finished. Systems are broken. Childcare is the least of the issues. Healthcare is diabolical. Yet resources are found to home imigrants arriving daily. I wonder where money is going? Or just donhave kids unless you want to and can afford to stay home and take care of your child full time. The knock on eff3ct for workers too when staff have childcare issues is thr pressure on staff to work harder to make up for absent staff. I personally resent it due to being stressed enough as itnis wothout having to carry an absent person from work who can't get childcare. It bores me. These probl2ms are workers problens too as more pressure mounts and it's just not fair.

After working in a nursery for 10 years and watching my community of beautiful hardworking colleagues through the covid lockdown with nothing extra for keeping the doors open waiting and waiting for some kind of recognition of the industries necessity and being met a good few years later with the only recognition being that it needs to be affordable for parents (which it does but) broke my spirits. When it went on to mean the ratios were relaxed and that you didnt need to be qualified - meaning my colleagues who just started that week would be on the same pay as a memeber of staff with years of education and experience. This basically nullified my lifes work and showed how worthless my career path was. They went on the offer the funding for younger children and I watched in dispair knowing that nurserys were closing down all around me and that parents were booking in to look around nurserys at 7 weeks pregnant (before even telling their own families they were expecting) just to secure places for their babies in over a years time... now there are more people expecting spaces that dont exist. This industry is crumbling in real time and its broken my heart. I quit. I am currently sat at home unemployed rather than carrying on down that path thats made me feel so undervalued as a person. I feel so much guilt for that choice but it was too upsetting to watch the parent's, children and my colleagues handle the stress and frustration at work only to be struggling financially at home too. I hope something changes but in the meantime I'm in the process of completely changing my life and career. Anyone whos still in it youre amazing and incredible ❤❤❤

The UK doesn't really feel like a country which supports families anymore or even encourages people to start families. We're talking about the next generation

When we had a society where labour was divided between men and women, this wasn’t a problem, mother’s are the natural caregivers of their own children, it’s simple, but we pushed women into the work place, I’m dreading the prospect of ever having to put my future children into daycare, it’s so unnatural. But of course nobody wants to acknowledge this fact, instead they’re throw more and more government funding at it, more tax money. It’s all about keeping women in the workplace and convincing women we would rather be there than with our children…

The proportion of men who choose to work in these settings has always been *extremely* low. If the pay is so low, how are those who work in these settings expected to pay for THEIR OWN child care? This proportion becomes less acute but remains significant in almost ALL areas of employment within formal education settings up to age 18. Is it simply a question of remuneration? What message does this overall gender imbalance convey to children and young people? ALL industrialised countries, including those such as Scandinavia and Hungary whose child support policies are some of the world's *most generous,* are to varying degrees undergoing an existential demographic decline because people are making the economic decision to have no more than one or two children.

Childcare is an investment in the future, not a short-term means of profit. There will always be some people that can afford “quality” childcare but we are seeing a system in the US and the UK that increasingly out of touch for even affluent households. The solution is to understand that childcare is intrinsically part of educational system and most economically viable and successful for the participants (parents, children and care providers) when nursery/school/daycare focuses on the enrichment of the children and not building costs, facility upkeep, regulations etc…Employers must also acknowledge that a parent that spends quality time with their child is a better employee. This means offering flexibility and support whenever possible. If we can afford to spend billions on the military, scientific innovations, infrastructure improvements and subsidies for every large industry that exists (Ag, Pharm, Energy etc.) plus tax breaks for the Uber-wealthy we can decide to properly invest in childcare that will either develop successful adults or those more likely to stray and struggle in life.

This is so difficult for UK parents and providers. FYI, not every country is better. In Barcelona, the state provided daycare puts 2 year olds at a ratio of 1 adult to TWENTY children. The daily ratio is usually lower (because children are out sick so often!) but UK ratios sound wonderful to those of us in Spain for whom the ratio is so much worse! In solidarity with daycare workers (and supermarket cashiers, too, whose job is no cakewalk as they deal with the public all day). I can't help but think government indifference is a product of men dominating the decisionmaking.

Are nurseries closing because of unions? In Russia, nurseries are state-owned. I don't pay for the care of my child. My son gets a lot of activities and training. Apart from training classes, there is a day sleep in a normal bed, meals 5 times a day, the food is very good, better than in very good European restaurants. Such nurseries appeared in the USSR in the 1920s. And it has survived until now. The quality of education, nutrition is very high. Such a nursery works from 7am to 7pm. In our nursery there are free consultations with a psychologist, free classes with a speech therapist, a physical therapy instructor, teaching drawing, singing, salt dough sculpture, dancing, plasticine modelling, robotics, lego constructors. And it's really cool! So don't think that childcare is bad in all countries. In Russia, everything is really good.

Let’s normalise paying one working parent enough to raise a family, buy a house, car etc and then the other parent can stay home and look after the kids.

Everythings broken in the uk, isn't it?

What is not broken in UK?

Let's be honest, everything is fucking broken in the UK.

The UK aren't the only ones who are having a childcare crisis. The US is also about to have a childcare crisis. It's insane that we can't do better.

There should be jobshares whereby mothers can work 9.30 to 2.30pm whilst someone else can do the other half day like students, single adults, or mature adults like 40 above. I wouldn't wouldnt work full-time. Caring for a child is a ft job in itself. School runs, shopping, cleaning, cooking, laundry, dishes, then homework, bathing, feeding the child, back to bed, early morning. The routine is more difficult than waking up for work or uni and getting back home with a takeaway lol, this routine is easier ive done it myself plus went to the gym after uni. Ive worked during my bsc it was hard, ive been pregnant during my msc and it was little difficult, but caring for the child 24-7 takes the medal, its unpredictable when a child falls sick, when going out or cooking u have anither person to constantly think about, its NOT just 1 person anymore.

Extremely disturbing considering how important good childcare is, in those early stages of development..

The state of the UK system looks the same as it is here in NZ. Childcare is so expensive here. As an example my 1 and 3 year olds attends what i would say is a very typical daycare. My 1 year old attends two days per week (7 hours per day), and it costs $194 for just those two days. My three year old attends 3 days (7 hours each day) and it costs $158 for those three days. In other words my kids are attending only PART time and im spending nearly $20k per year. Nuts.

Abolish rent, make housing free (To Brits only), then people could afford to stay at home and raise their kids themselves.

It is exactly the same in elderly care, not enough funds. We need to pay more tax to properly fund these things but people vote for the tax cutters.

Being a working mum is fucking ridiculous and child care costs is one of a list of problems! The system is so flawed.

This problem should have been tackled years ago. This is deliberate and it will come back to bite them in the ass. Utterly disturbing and disgusting. Something has to give.

Only childcare is broken?

It depends on how you perceive "teacher". I think it begins from there... Because in Finland, being a teacher is really valuable and respectful.

There are poorer countries in Europe than the UK and nursery are free there, it's a shame for the UK

Maybe people should think about how they will cope financially BEFORE having kids. This is the bigger issue.

I absolutely LOVED living in the UK and I miss it a lot, but with a 2 year old and another one on the way, I am SO happy to currently be living in Denmark. The child care here is fantastic.

I’m just a bit confused and possibly someone could shed some light on this, if parents are spending such a large chunk of their wage on childcare, and each nursery is at full capacity, then why are nurseries struggling financially? Surely two children at one nursery would cover one staff members wage, and another two children would cover bills, say if there were ten staff members, 20 children would cover the wages and if one staff member can have four children, half of those children would cover the staff members wage, another for bills, which leaves the fourth child’s fees as leftover / “profit” for the nursery.. or am I missing something?

Our childcare in Seattle is $26,800 USD annually for our 2 year old. It would be higher for infants. The daycare near my work costs even more, even with “corporate discount.” The daycares here still struggle to stay open and teachers are poorly paid as well.

1. Government should pay more money towards childcare. Free funds are a joke. 2. If government actually paid a decent entitled amount, employers can easily pay a decent salary to their staff. For example, free funds in my area is £4.59 per hour where as nursery hourly fee is £13 , how will they cover their costs? No wonder nurseries are closing down. 3. Every business has got other outgoings, government needs to relax these for childcare business if they can pay extra for the free funds. For examples business tax, stamp duty, insurances, gas electric water bill (children need these), FOOD, Nappies/wipes/formula milk. Also OFSTED needs to change their attitude towards childcare, they cannot handle too much stress on daily basis.

The whole country is broken its shocking

In the UK here I was paying roughly £1200 each month for full time 5 days a week in 2020, when my son qualified for 30 hours free (at the age of 3 years old) we was told we had to wait for a place in the classroom that looks after the free childcare group. I was gobsmacked to find out that they segregated the paying children from the state paid children regardless of if the parent was previously paying. this ment he no longer got to play with the friends he had made and the toys in the room were the old used ones which would have been thrown away from the paid classroom. I complained to the regualtor and got nothing back from them.

I worked in a nursery school in Norway where the system is so much better. Everything here in the UK is corporate, to the point that nothing is affordable.

My son's childcare is £1200 a month it costs more than my mortgage. And recently they just put their price up even more 😤.