Changes in the world of work have put women in a difficult position when it comes to childcare. Fewer and fewer families can afford to support themselves on one income: increasingly, it is necessary for both parents to have full-time jobs. At the same time, the movement of work out of homesteads and into factories and offices has meant women’s work can no longer be combined as easily with childcare as it once was.

It is often assumed that the solution for this is for external childcare providers to bridge the gap between the end of maternity leave (when babies are under one year old), and the start of school when they turn five. But this is very expensive: the average cost of full-time nursery care for a child under two is now nearly £15,000 per year in the UK, and even higher in London.

Many feminist groups advocate for childcare to be more heavily subsidised by the state, to make it more affordable for parents and make it easier for women to return to work after having a baby. For instance, the UK government currently offers 30 hours per week of free formal childcare (that is, childcare in an officially registered centre, rather than from a nanny, babysitter or extended family member) to children aged 3-4 whose parents work full-time. In March 2023, the government announced a plan to extend this to children from 9 months old.

We don’t believe this is the best approach.

Most parents don’t want to place their child in full-time childcare from a young age. “Full-time childcare” is considered to mean 50 hours per week: enough for parents to drop off their child, commute to the office, put in a full day at work, pick up their child and return home. This means that a toddler in full-time childcare spends more hours at nursery than most adults spend at their jobs, and on weekdays spends only one or two waking hours with their family.

Survey results show that parents want to spend more, not less, time with their children. Most people believe that when children are small, it is best for mothers to work part-time so that they can look after their children themselves for at least part of the time. A system of heavily state-subsidised childcare might make it easier for mothers to return to work full-time- but it isn’t in line with what mothers and fathers actually value.

Instead, we favour:

• Changes to workplace norms to accommodate parenting. Mothers shouldn’t have to choose between long hours of daycare for their children or giving up their career. Part-time work should be a viable long-term option, and extended career breaks should be seen as normal.

• Cash benefits to parents, in place of subsidised formal childcare. We should remember that the main purpose of childcare subsidies is to make life easier for parents, rather than to encourage them to choose one option over another in terms of childcare arrangements. We should allow each family the freedom to do what works best for them.

• An end to the excessive formalisation and regulation of the childcare sector. A high regulatory burden drives up prices and constrains the supply of childcare. The number of childminders has fallen by half over the last decade, and many cite “excessive paperwork” as their reason for leaving the profession. Scaling back unnecessary red tape could make it easier for parents to access childcare when they need it that is friendly, convenient, and affordable.

Our work in this area

Childcare that works for women is a key area of ongoing work for us. We regularly write op-eds and contribute to roundtable discussions, conferences and written calls for evidence on this topic, and on the closely related topic of the inclusion of mothers in the workplace. We have written an in-depth report on childcare for the inaugural Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, Who Cares? The Real Cost of Childcare.