The Cost of Raising Britain Panorama

Parents struggling to cope with the rising cost of childcare. It is a

real financial burden. I think that the pressure for us as a family is

immense. Local nurseries are is hitting

their doors. Now I've been kicked in the teeth.

It's been taken away from me. Women are feeling squeezed out of

the workplace. That is how it feels. You think

would I be better off not working? Families moving abroad in search of

a better deal. It gives us a better life, more

flexibility, more money in our pockets.

And the parents taking matters into their own hands.

We want the best for our children. Tonight on Panorama, how much

longer can families afford the high Morning, time.

It's an early rise for the Porter family in Leicestershire.

Come on, then. Claire and her husband, Richard,

both work full-time. The family has to be up, dressed and out of the

Are we going the right way? We are, we are going to Karen's, aren't we?

Claire has a couple of stops to make on the way to work. First, the

childminder who takes five-year-old Charlie to school.

Ready? There we go. Then the local nursery where her

daughter, Sienna spends the day. She's been up since 5.40am. So she

will be tired. Flexible childcare like this can be

hard to find. It is not cheap. It costs the porer, �750 a month. That

is as much as their mortgage. Claire is a specialist nurse in the

burns unit at Leicester Royal Infirmry. The hospital is in one of

the busiest NHS Trusts in the UK. It is a major local employer.

More than 9,000 women work here. That is nearly eight in ten of the

staff. Women are at the heart of

Leicester's hospitals, so, reliable childcare is vital. Without it,

Claire could not work her long shifts.

But the cost is a constant worry. It's a real financial burden.

Things are tight. We have to budget to enable us to pay our childcare

fees. Do you feel you are being squeezed

as a family? Definitely, yes. The pressure for us as a family is

immense. Thousands of pairts are cared for

by the Trust's three hospitals -- patients. They rely on working mims,

like Paula Vaughan. She is a surgical manager. Though she gets

financial help, the fees to keep her two children in nursery full-

time are eye-watering. At the moment I am being charged

about �1,350 a month. That is a lot of money.

It is a lot. I am not left with a lot out of my salary. Across the

Trust it is a similar story, Sarah Turner is coordinating the

aneasthetists. I hardly take home any pay. The

childcare is about three quarters. Alison French works nights on the

gynaecology ward. We would like another child, but

cannot afford it because of the childcare costs.

Louise Gibson relies on the grandparents to look after the kids

when she is nursing heart pairbts. I'm working so hard. That is how it

feels -- patients. You think would I be better off not working?

Leicester's hospitals would grind to a halt without the working mums.

Government spending on childcare in the UK is actually higher than in

other developed countries. Even so, parents spend more than a quarter

of their pay on childcare costs. That is more than anywhere else in

the world. That amount is rising. We have been given access to the

annual survey of childcare costs, carried out by the chaift, the The

Daycare Trust. What the results reveal is that last year many

parents faced above-inflation increases for fees in nurseries and

child minders at a time when wages are remaining stagnant.

In England, the nursery fees rose significantly last year. For a

child under two, on average, parents are to pay about �340 more

than the previous year for a part- time place. Scotland saw a modest

rise, about �100 a year, but it already has some of the highest

childcare costs in the UK. Nursery fees in Wales rose by an

average of �78 a year. The average cost is pretty much now

�100 a week for a two-year-old who gets 25 hours of nursery care. So

�100 that works out for a week over �5,000 a year.

That is a lot of money. It is not even a full-time place? No. That is

just the average amount. So a lot of parents are actually paying a

lot more for their childcare. And families in the East Midlands

have been hit with some of the steepest rises of all. Nursery fees

here increased by about 10% last year.

We sent out a questionnaire to staff at Leicester's three

hospitals to see how they are being affected.

Of the 400 parents that replied, half of them said that the cost of

childcare made them consider giving up work all together.

Even more said that they had changed the hours that they work to

minimise the costs. Mums like Claire question what real

incentive there is for them to work. I could give up my job. I could

receive benefits off the state. I could not work. I could look after

my children at home, but for me as a professional working mum in my

life I want to provide more for my children. My career is important to

me. I love it. That is not an option. I love my job. I know that

I do a good job. I don't have to be just a mummy. I am also a business

manager, it seems a waste of skill to not do both.

If women like Paula and Claire are squeeze from the workplace, it is

not just them that will feel the effects. With a mostly female

workforce, a future without working mums would be unthinkable here.

Working parents are a very important part of our work. They

are some of our most experienced staff. We could not deliver the

services that we do and function, really, if that significant

proportion of our workforce did not choose to come back to work. It

would be incredibly difficult for So, across the UK why does

childcare costs come so much money? Andrea Webster has been running her

own nursery near Leeds for 18 years. Do you like potatoes? Yes! Do you

like jacket potatoes? Yes! What do you have on them? Cheese and beans?

She charges �41 for a child of two. Not cheap, but it is not lucrative

for Andrea, either. Do you do it for the money? No, I

don't! The most expensive thing is the staffing. If you want to

provide quality childcare then you have to pay for quality staff.

So, staff is �27 out of the �41 you charge? Yes.

That is hefty, isn't it? It is, and that is just the staff that are in

the room actually looking after the children.

Staff these days are better trained and nurseries are more regulated

than when Andrea first opened the doors here, but that has pushed up

the overheads. There is a huge burden

administratively within the nursery. It has to take the decision whether

or not to take the staff away from the children to cope with that or

whether we employ extra staff to free the staff up to do that. We

don't take the staff away from the children here. Obviously, that then

increases the cost to the parent. As childcare bills are going up,

for many, Government help to pay them is going down.

Working parents can claim a small tax break on costs by using

childcare vouchers, but the value has not risen in six years.

And lowering income families have been hit hard by a cut in the

amount that they can claim back for childcare through working tax

credits. The average loss for working

families has been something like �500 over a year. At the time when

the budgets are squeezed because of what is happening in the wider

economy, in terms of inflation, so on, this is a real challenge for

the parents. It is not just working mums feeling

the squeeze. Look at the stars and the moons.

There is a star there. And a moon... With three boys under five, living

on benefits is not easy. Toni Willmott wants to get a job, but to

do it she needs good, local childcare.

My boys are everything to me. I would not leave them with anybody.

Her two older sons had free places at the local council-run nursery,

five minute walk from their home in West Yorkshire, but the Wakefield

council says that they cannot afford to keep it open anymore,

just as she hoped that her son, Levi was to start there.

As far as I was concerned he was going there. Now I've been kicked

in the teeth, it's been taken away from me.

You have to look at reflecting on the person skills... Toni was

relying on the local nursery to help to get her off benefits. She's

been training two afternoons a week for a childcare qualification. She

was hoping to up her hours, but now she may through in the towel.

I am loving doing the childcare course. I absolutely love it, but I

will have to knock it on the head if I can't get him into a nursery.

There is nothing that I can do. I am not happy about it at all.

The nearest private nursery is full with a six-month waiting list.

The council has suggested alternatives, but the closest means

an hour's round trip. They would have to catch two buses just to get

him there for a short nursery session.

As Toni and Levi showed me... half an hour.

And you have get to work after that and have to get back again? Yes.

So it is hardly worth it? As every parent knows, toddlers are

not always the best travellers. This is what he does every time he

gets on the bus. He is not that keen on the bus

journey? He doesn't like it. He wants to get out. Then he wants to

run up around down the bus. You are happy with your freedom?! Toni is

not the only mum who might struggle. Thank you very much.

Wakefield Council plans to close another two nurseries as all three

are losing money. And because of budget cuts from

central Government, the council has to find massive savings.

It is unfortunate. It is something that I would rather not be doing,

but this council is faced with a difficult dilemma over how it

spends its money. The nurseries have never been sustainable. We

have now no option because of the difficulties that the council is

facing with its budget. But one group of mums is fighting

back. Even if it means that they have to run their nursery

themselves. So, there we have to put what is

happening with the nursery. What the cuts are, what the council are

going to do. Petrol expenses? Fuel expenses, then? Their nursery in

Pontefract is cheaper than others locally, but it is one of the three

facing closure. The council has offered the parents and the staff

the chance to take it over. They've been given three months to draw up

a business plan. We are here with young children,

working, some would say you are mad for think being runs the nursery?

We have no choice. You summit the proposal or there is closure. We

are passionate about the fact we don't want to uproot our children,

for them to be relocated. I think we want the best for our children.

How important is the nursery to you? We have built up relationships

with the nursery over the last four years from other children going

there. We think it is important that it is kept in the community.

It is needed. But the mums face an uphill

struggle. Uncertainty over the nursery's future has led to half of

the parents taking their children elsewhere.

It's a race against time to keep it It has not been easy. You come home

from work and all of a sudden you are researching things like

employment law. It has been a constant headache. It is affecting

my home life. I suppose this might be the Big Society that David

Cameron is talking about, that you start running things for yourself.

Which is ideal if we'll have the background in it, but we haven't.

By law, councils in England and Wales must try to make sure they

are enough local childcare places to allow parents to work or finds

training. But if the nursery closures go ahead, many will be

left in the lurch. They want local nurseries. There might be an issue

about local nurseries, but there is potentially sufficient alternative

provision. That might come down to a choice between a child minder or

a nursery. If you are only offering a childminder, it is not a choice.

There will be nurseries, but it might entail the parent having to

travel and I accept that, and that might be difficult. Across Britain,

most councils are not providing the sort of child care working parents

need. The Daycare Trust's survey indicates that in England, of the

councils that responded, only 46% said there was enough local child

care for parents to work full-time. In Scotland, the figure was only

21%. In Wales, just 17% of councils that responded said there were

enough places locally for parents working full-time. It is time that

councils started to get serious about meeting the legal duties that

they have had to meet for the last five or six years. Are you worried

in England and Wales that there is a statutory duty, that they are

failing in their legal duty to provide the right sort of child

care? Yes, they are. So, child care is expensive and can be hard to

find. But now, the government has a big expansion plans. Those three or

four year-olds across the UK are already entitled to a free pre-

school place -- most three or four year-olds. That will be extended in

England to even younger children. Education, early years learning,

this is how you change the life chances of our least well off and

genuinely live children out of poverty. More than a quarter of a

million two-year-olds stand to benefit. Third but with so many

extra children needing places, will there be enough to go round? At the

moment, we have a short ball around 100,000 places. Up and down the

country, -- a short ball. Providers tell me they will fill existing

vacancies but warned last -- not invest a single penny integration -

- creating new places and that has the chance of scuppering a well-

intentioned programme. It can't really be done? I think it can but

I recognise it is very challenging. How are you going to magic up

100,000 places? In lots of areas, nurseries are under capacity. There

are spare places around. The challenge for us is making sure we

get the places in the areas where there are the most two-year-olds

from the poorest families. That is not the only challenge. The aim to

live children out of poverty by extending free child care depends

on the quality of the nurseries and childminders. As far as a parent is

concerned, the quality measure is the inspection report produced by

OFSTED. The research clearly indicates that two-year-olds

definitely do better where there is a good and outstanding report on

the nursery. Right, dinner-time! is to year-olds like Levi will not

in Wakefield who should benefit from this new free childcare. His

nursery is rated good by school inspectors. In Wakefield, nearly

40% of child minder providers don't currently reach that's done that.

You know yourself, in disadvantaged areas, they are more likely to have

nurseries of a lower standard. is a very hard task, I accept that.

Going forward, have a nursery is judged to be satisfactory through

OFSTED, they need to make sure they have a high quality staff in their

nursery, or that they are part of a training scheme working with local

authorities to improve their quality. So, the help you get for

child care can depend on how much you earn, where you live and the

On a modest income, this couple were paying more than �400 a month,

just for a part-time nursery place in Huddersfield for their daughter,

It was shocking, the cost of it was shocking. It shows a complete

disregard for working families with small kids. Two years ago, they

decided to move somewhere with a different approach to childcare.

Here, to Knut's home country of It was generally, people in Norway

having children and telling us about a different way of life. They

are shocked that we would pay the same amount for three days a week

for Thea, in the UK but there that they pay for two children to go

full-time to a nursery. -- that they pay. Every morning, Lisa takes

4-year-old Thea attached -- to the nursery attached to the university

A full-time place here costs parents much less than it would in

Parents get a pretty good deal here. From the age of one, all children

are legally entitled to a nursery place full time. Of course, parents

don't have to take them up on it, but if they do, it is heavily

subsidised by the state and the price is capped, so even those on

highest incomes never pay more than �250 a month. More women work here

than in Britain, and the Norwegians take it for granted that they have

affordable childcare available to everyone. It is very important,

because it gives all children of all families the same right and the

same possibility to have a nursery place. And that is a good start for

the children, and it is also a good possibility for the women and the

family. Thea's nursery opens early, so parents can drop their kids off

on the way to work. There is even a sleep over once a month so parents

For the children, there is a big emphasis on the outdoors, and

learning to do things for themselves. Under the careful

supervision of the teachers, of In terms of child care, do you

think you have made the right decision? Definitely made the right

decision. It has given us a better family life, more flexibility, more

money in a pocket. -- in our pocket. This sort of child care has to be

paid for, though. Norway's population is relatively small. It

is wealthy because of oil and income tax and VAT are higher than

in the UK. Don't people here mind paying more tax? In general, I

don't think they do. Even though they might say, I wish I paid less

tax. It is a bit like, everybody gets something that, one way or

another. You don't find people without children saying, why should

I pay for your children to have cheap childcare? No, I don't.

Simple as that. In the UK, you would. It is estimated it would

cost around �7 billion to set up a Norwegian style system of childcare

in the UK. The Daycare Trust believes it would eventually pay

for itself, as more women work and pay tax. Places like Norway have

been investing in child care for 30 years or more, for a generation. I

see no reason why, if you have sufficient political will and

sufficient funding, or that we cannot get to a policy of child

care within the next decade. would British taxpayers stomach the

hefty set-up costs? Back in Leicester, we asked staff at the

hospital trust what they thought. The results are not scientific, but

of the almost 800 staff who responded, there was strong backing

for more government spending on a child care. Unsurprisingly, not

just from staff with young children. -- and surprisingly. In these times,

there is little prospect of billions being invested to match

Unfortunately, in the immediate future, with the public spending

cuts going on, it does not seem like will be unobtainable goal for

this foreseeable future. -- does not seem it will be an odd

attainable goal. A controversial idea is to offer a loan of up to

�10,000 which parents would then pay back through their wages.

rather like a loan, it is also a bit like a tax. You don't pay if

you don't earn, and if you haven't repaid because you haven't earned

enough money to do so, the debt is forgotten. The think tank's own

research suggests the majority of parents with young kids thought it

was a good idea. There was less enthusiasm among the mothers we

spoke to. That would be worrying to our family, to always be in debt to

the government. Having student loans, have paid those of now. I

don't want to be taking out more child care loans that I am going to

be paying off. Some in the childcare business are even less

polite about the idea. I confess, I was absolutely astonished when I

saw the proposals. Here we are, in the middle of the toughest economic

environment but we have seen in a lifetime, predominantly caused by

poor lending practices, and we have a proposal to lend the most

vulnerable and disadvantaged families out there more money, and

put them further in debt. Back in West Yorkshire, the problem is more

pressing. I don't think we are mad. We want the best for our children.

If the mother's we met here can't find a way quickly to keep their

nursery open, or they may soon have known nursery at all. Tonight is a

big night. The parents have called a meeting about the planned closure

of the nursery and two others. There is some unexpected news. They

are told the council has agreed to delay closing the nurseries for six

months. It is down to the way we have -- the work we have put in and

the stamping we have done, and telling them it is not right. It is

the first piece of progress we have got, and it is brilliant. I feel

great. A bit overwhelming, I am really happy. At least I will not

have to think, where am I going to put my trialled? At least I can

tell work that I can continue to work -- going to put my child.

There is still a lot to do and the nursery's long-term future is by no

means certain, but the relief is a sign of how much parents value

affordable childcare. It is a powerful message to politicians who

claim they are serious about helping women work and giving

children the best possible start in life.