The average annual cost of a full-time kindergarten place for a child under two in the UK is now £14,836.
According to a report by charity Coram, average costs have increased by 5.9% over the past year, while seat availability has also fallen.
The BBC has spoken to women being forced to leave their jobs and nurseries closing in areas where they are needed most.
The Government says it has spent £20billion over the last five years to help families with childcare costs.
“I adore my children and wouldn’t change it for the world,” says Jo, while playing Lego with twins, Ben and Sam, two, on her living room floor in Manchester.
An ICU nurse with more than 17 years of experience, Jo worked until her 27th week of pregnancy during the pandemic.
Work is “a part of me,” she says. “It’s important to feel like you’re doing something meaningful and I don’t want to give that up.”
But Jo has had to reduce her working hours to one day a week and says that in the long term she will have to change careers because childcare costs are eating away at her income.
The twin kindergarten increases its prices in April. Jo and her husband James, who also works for the NHS, pay £56 a day for each twin plus all-round childcare fees for their four-year-old son Charlie. That’s a total of £133 a day – more than 75% of what Jo earns working a long shift.
According to a survey of 24,000 parents by the charity Pregnant then Screwed, one in four women say their childcare costs are now more than 75% of their net salary. One in 10 breaks even or ends in a loss.
“I would work more if it were possible, but it’s completely priceless,” says Jo.
A BBC analysis shows that the cost of a full-time kindergarten place for a child under the age of two varies widely in the UK. It costs an average of £285 a week, which is 44% of the average wage for a full-time employee.
In Scotland the costs are lower. But in central London, even though people earn more, the disproportionately higher childcare fees are more than half the average full-time wage.
The Coram Childcare Survey 2023 reports similar price increases across the childcare sector – in childminders, kindergartens, preschools and after-school care centers. The UK remains one of the most expensive places in the world for childcare.
In England too, the availability of childcare facilities has fallen and some have had to close. Only half of local areas have enough available places for children under the age of two, the report says.
And only 66% have enough space for three- and four-year-olds, who get at least 15 hours off per week for most of the year. Both numbers are down 7% from a year ago.
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At Weston Park Pre-school in Southampton, children line up with their plates and excitedly show off what they want to eat. This is her farewell party as the kindergarten closes its doors for the last time.
“That shouldn’t happen,” says kindergarten director Roxanne Maynard. “Weston is an area of deprivation – we’re not just childcare, we’re early education, we’re family support. And we won’t be here for that anymore.”
Kindergarten was a “massive support” for 31-year-old Stacey Jones and her three-year-old daughter Jayda.
“Especially when you’re a lonely mom,” says Stacey, wiping away tears. “When you go home, you still have the teachers to support you.”
Roxanne is particularly concerned for families like Stacey’s who have been unable to find another place in kindergarten. She says the kids “will no longer be able to connect with their friends,” making them less likely to be “school-ready.”
Stacey has called preschools as far as eight miles away but everywhere is “full” so there is no alternative daycare for Jayda until she starts school in six months.
The number of daycare closures between April and December 2022 increased by 87% compared to the same period last year, according to a survey by the National Day Nurseries Association. Almost a third of the closures have been in the UK’s most deprived areas.
The YMCA, which owns 89 preschools including Weston Park Pre-School, says it has to make “difficult decisions”.
The charity says it’s not getting enough money from the government to cover the free childcare it has to provide and with soaring fuel bills and a national living wage hike due in April, its nurseries will be “forced to die”.
At the same time there is pressure on other parts of the sector. More than 10,000 childminders have also closed in the last five years, according to Ofsted. Overall, there are around 26,000 fewer early education places in England than at the end of 2018.
“Many of the parents live nearby. They don’t drive, they can’t access groceries outside of the area,” says Roxanne as she closes the door for the last time. “We should not leave children without care. The impact that will have will be devastating.”
A parliamentary inquiry into why childcare is so expensive will present results and recommendations in the autumn.
Among other things, an adjustment of the subsidy rate for free hours to the costs of day care centers, relief from business tariffs and more help for working parents of children under two years of age are being discussed.
The Department for Education says the number of childcare places available to families in England has remained broadly stable since 2015 and “standards remain high”. A spokesman says it has spent more than £20billion over the past five years to help families with childcare costs, in recognition of the financial pressures families and providers face.
Many families also have access to tax-free childcare, although Treasury Department figures show £2.4 billion has been underspent since the scheme began in 2017.
Labor shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson will say in a speech on Thursday that her first priority as education secretary would be childcare reform.
Meanwhile in Manchester, it’s time to pick up Charlie from pre-school and Jo puts her twins in the stroller.
“I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining,” she says as she buckles her seat belt. “I’m aware of how lucky I am, and I’m also fully prepared to put my career on hold while they’re little.”
But she says education isn’t just for parents. “They will eventually be the people who run our country. Raising them right is in everyone’s interest.”
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