Childcare costs rise four times faster than wages – TUC

The cost of childcare for young children has risen more than four times faster than wages since 2008, according to TUC analysis. The average wage of an employee with a one-year-old child rose by 12% in cash terms between 2008 and 2016, compared with a 48% increase in child care costs.

A single parent working full-time with a small child in nursery for 21 hours a week spent more than a fifth of their wages on childcare in 2016, up from around a sixth in 2008. Most working parents with a child under two do not receive any state help with childcare costs.

TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said:

‘Nearly a million working parents with one-year-old kids have eye-watering childcare bills. There is a real gap in childcare support for one-year-olds until government assistance kicks in at age two.’