For many parents in the United Kingdom, the decision to return to work isn’t about ambition or personal preference. It’s about whether suitable childcare is available, affordable, and accessible. The cost of childcare in the UK is amongst the highest in the world. Even with gov UK childcare funding, families are still struggling to jump through hoops to be eligible and be financially independent.
So what needs to change? Do parents reduce their working hours? Do parents decide to stay at home instead of sourcing childcare? Do they continue to sacrifice their financial stability just to keep their job?
In a survey run by Mumsnet in collaboration with several leading campaigns, charities, and forward-thinking parent groups, parents responded, “96% said the UK government doesn’t support parents enough with the cost and availability of childcare.”
In September 2025, the UK government announced a childcare funding expansion to support families with the cost of childcare. Let’s look at how this scheme has impacted families a year on since it was launched.
Why Do Parents Want to Return to Work?
There are many reasons why parents choose to return to work, despite the financial burden. It also means that when they return to work, they can become eligible for the UK tax-free childcare scheme to support them with this decision.
Cost of Living vs Financial Independence
Some working families need two incomes to balance out the impact the rise in cost of living has had on their family, and one salary just isn’t enough. Mum of two, Fran, said, “When I returned to work 4 days per week after having my first-born, the cost of nursery was more than our rent. However, I was £50 better off by returning to work than not. That £50 meant we could afford nappies and baby food each month.”
Mums also want to regain that sense of financial independence and feel like they can contribute to their family in other ways than raising their children. The societal shift now sees more fathers wanting to split the caregiving role and support their other halves returning to work.
However, a decision to return to work can sometimes be taken out of a mother’s hands because they risk losing their maternity pay if they do not return following their agreed leave. Parents want to protect their long-term income potential and contributions towards their pension. Many families cannot afford to pay this back, and therefore have no choice but to “make it work”.
Their Work is their Passion
For some mums, it’s a no-brainer. Their work is their passion, and doing without it just isn’t an option. If you love what you do, it often doesn’t feel like “work”. Pursuing these paths, particularly as a new parent, can be important to regaining a sense of self in a time that has been solely focused on a tiny human for the last 9 months.
Career Progression
Career progression is probably one of the biggest worries new mothers have when they return to work. The motherhood penalty often talks about women, especially new mothers, being overlooked for promotions and new responsibilities simply because they are now a Mum. Some charities work tirelessly to support mothers returning to work, including advice lines and legal support when HR issues arise.
On the flip side, career progression opportunities often mean a salary increase, which can be difficult for families to turn down when they’ve got a nursery bill (and everything else!) to pay.
An Identity Outside of Being Mum
Parents love their kids unconditionally, but they also need a space and time where they can be themselves, and not “Mum”. Returning to work gives a parent back some of their independence and they can regain their identity to remember who they were before they had children.
Barriers to Childcare Accessibility
When you start to drill down on parent feedback and the real reasons why they struggle to return to work, the reasons often highlight the barriers parents face. Does this sound familiar to you?
Cost
Just assuming you only have one child to pay for childcare, the rising costs each year make it harder and harder for parents to justify. Childcare settings increase their fees, charge for perishables such as food and nappies, and add hidden costs such as deposits, registration fees, and invoices for hours your funding doesn’t cover.
Some families are trying to balance the books across multiple providers, especially over the holiday periods when term-time places do not cover the school holidays.
Eligibility for Funding
To receive 30 hours of childcare, funded by the UK government, a parent can only be eligible if:
- Both parents (or the sole parent in single-parent households) must be working a minimum of 16 hours per week
- Not earning a joint income of more than £100k per tax year
- Claiming for a child who is at least 9 months - 4 years old (up until they start school)
Some exceptions may apply if you are on maternity, paternity, adoption, shared parental leave, or sick leave. There are also exceptions for families who have parent’s that are the sole carer for the other parent in their household.
Quite often, parents find themselves falling into an ineligible gap because they earn too much combined, or they simply cannot find work to be employed for enough hours. It can turn into a vicious cycle of needing to work to be eligible, but you need the childcare to work.
Geographic Restrictions
They call them “childcare deserts”. Towns where childcare places are nonexistent, and the places that do become available, are snapped up before you can blink. There’s a real imbalance of childcare availability for areas across the UK, and a lack of specialised settings for children who require medical and special needs provision.
Parents find themselves stuck logistically and can only work close to where there is childcare availability, or commuting longer distances, which limits job search options and reduces time that could be spent at home.
Waiting Lists
Parts of the UK, particularly in cities and built-up areas, are so oversubscribed that families have no choice but to put their children’s names on a waiting list before they are even born. Following the rollout of the government's childcare expansion, this has put an increasing amount of pressure on childcare providers to supply places, and this pressure increases even more with nurseries closing down due to running costs and lack of qualified staffing.
Working Hours vs. Childcare Opening Hours
Not every parent works a typical 9-5 job, where they can drop their child at nursery for 8 am and be at the office for 9 am. Parents who work in essential roles such as the NHS, emergency services, and hospitality workers are often working shifts around the clock, which do not coincide with nursery opening hours.
This not only limits the families which childcare providers can be used, but also limits what other caregivers in the family can do because they have to be available for nursery pickups.
Understanding Childcare Support in England
Before September 2025, when the UK government announced the expansion of childcare funding, the model looked like this.
- 2-year-old funding = 15 hours per week (for 38 weeks of the year)
- 3-year-old funding = 30 hours per week (for 38 weeks of the year)
Families could apply for funded hours the term after their child turned 2 or 3 years old, using a code which childcare providers could use to claim the funds from the government. Only parents who were claiming a qualifying benefit (e.g. Universal Credit, Income Support, or Disability Living Allowance) could claim for 2-year-old funding. Therefore, the first band of funding was only made available to disadvantaged parents, and funding before 2-years-old was extremely limited.
Once a child had turned 3 years old, the universal entitlement for 3-4-year-old children meant they could receive 15 - 30 hours of funded childcare per week. To be eligible for 30 funded hours, parents had to be working and not exceed the income cap.
From September 2025 onwards
Babies and young children from 9 months old up to 4 years old are entitled to 30 funded hours per week (for 38 weeks of the year). It’s important to note that some providers offer a “stretched offer”, which means you can use fewer hours per week over 52 weeks instead of limiting it to term-time only (38 weeks).
Other funding support that can work alongside the universal offer for parents who are not in receipt of benefits, can apply for tax-free childcare support. The government contributes up to £2 for every £8 a parent deposits into their childcare account. Further information about eligibility and what funding options best suit your circumstances can be sought through the Childcare Choices website.
What Parents Need from Employers
Once parents finally jump through all the hoops to return to work and access childcare, they want to feel supported in the workplace. This is a non-exhaustive list of some support initiatives that parents should expect from a family-friendly employer.
- Flexible working arrangements; hybrid working, term-time contracts, compressed hours, and an increased number of days for paid leave relating to family emergencies
- Breastfeeding support; this is now a legal requirement that employers must follow to be compliant. Provisions such as breastfeeding rooms, pumping facilities, and safe breast milk storage are essential to support breastfeeding mums returning to work.
- Emotional support; offering a phased return, a detailed handover, phased responsibilities to reduce overwhelm, confidence rebuilding, and a warm welcome back
- Adopting family-friendly policies that promote shared parental leave, enhanced paternity leave, and carers’ leave.
Lived Experiences from Real Parents
Fran, mother of two, shares her story of returning to work and accessing childcare in the UK, as a working mother, a single parent, and being both employed and self-employed.
“I became a Mum in May 2019 with my daughter, Hallie. I wanted to follow in my Mum’s footsteps and be a stay-at-home mum, but I soon realised that I wanted more and decided to explore my options and return to work instead. At the time of going on maternity leave, I was self-employed and only receiving the statutory government maternity pay. This made it increasingly difficult to afford a full-time nursery place because I couldn’t afford the rates. I chose to take up a part-time childcare place in a local nursery so I could work from home and keep a hand in the world of work. I was fortunate to have support from my parents to fund the deposit and registration fee required to accept the nursery place.”
“In September 2020, I secured my first full-time position working in a school on a term-time only contract. I increased Hallie’s hours to full-time to coincide with my working pattern. The childcare bill each month was more than our rent, but I was £50 better off. I used the tax-free childcare scheme to save every penny we could.”
“When Hallie turned 3 years old, I transferred her to a local pre-school to lower the costs. The government funding of 30 hours covered 90% of the fees each week, which was a huge saving for us as a family. I soon went on maternity leave with my second baby in February 2022. When Logan was born, I took Hallie out of childcare completely and had both children at home for the summer (eek!).”
“My maternity leave was cut short when I found out my maternity cover had handed in their notice, and my role would not be covered in my absence. I returned to work sooner than expected in September 2022 and tried to juggle using family and friends for childcare because Logan was too young to receive funded childcare hours. However, the extra stress wasn’t worth the cost saving, and I sourced one of the very last full-time childcare places nearby!”
“When Logan turned 3 years old, I received the 30 hours of government funding. I thought this would save me two-thirds of my childcare bill each month, only to find out that the nursery could now charge me for meals due to his age. My savings were swallowed up by this change, and the price per day had increased by another 7% from the year before.”
“Since then, I have learnt to balance working full time as a single parent, being employed in a school (to benefit from having the school holidays off), self-employment as a writer, and organising wrap-around childcare for my kids. Without childcare funding and Universal Credit, childcare costs would have prevented me from working as a single parent. Logan is due to start school this September, and I cannot wait to feel the weight lifted when nursery bills are a thing of the past!”
Final Thoughts
Childcare provision will always be the crux for many parents wanting to return to work, and we have a long way to go until the economic infrastructure and demand are met. The government's expansion of funded childcare was the first step to supporting parents back into work, but accessibility still remains inconsistent. New initiatives to support dads are speaking louder than ever before, as well as new policies being discussed to support families even further.
