A truer picture of how much childcare costs parents in England

‘The reality is that my childcare routinely eats up half of my very good wage.’ Photograph: Alamy

I applaud you for attempting to quantify the costs of childcare for your readers, but your calculator is undercounting the true amount (How much parents have to spend in England – interactive calculator, 6 November).

Begin with the fact that your calculator tops out at 50 hours a week. Unfortunately, the brutal reality for many parents is that 50 hours is insufficient if your job is 40 hours a week and you have any kind of commute. I work a 40-hour week plus unpaid lunch breaks, and it is at least a 20-minute commute to the nursery, which is the shortest commute we’ve ever had.