Parents are getting priced out of childcare, according to a new report.

The Family and Childcare Trust’s annual childcare costs report shows, for a family of two children, the cost for one child in part-time nursery care and one in an after school club is £7,549 a year.

This compares to the average UK mortgage cost of £7,207.

The cost for the same family needing full-time childcare would amount to £11,700 a year, 62 per cent higher than the average UK mortgage.

In a bid to address the imbalance, the government has announced 1.9 million working families will get the chance to benefit from a childcare subsidy worth up to £2,000 per child.

The scheme, announced ahead of last week’s Budget, will come in from next September and see parents paying 80 per cent of childcare costs up to £10,000 per child to a registered provider get the remaining 20 per cent tax-free.

But critics such as childminder Kimberley Jackson, of Saxon Close, Halstead, believe it doesn’t go far enough.

See the Gazette for the full report