Last weekend more than 1,000 people gathered on College Green to protest over unaffordable childcare, inflexible working hours and inadequate parental leave. Speakers talk to the crowds about the rising cost of childcare and its lack of availability as waiting lists for nursery places mount up.
Among the speakers were Labour Councillor Nicola Beech, who called for childcare reform and a general election following 12 years of Conservative governments, which she says have left “employment rights in tatters”. Founder of Autism Independence Nura Aabe spoke about the added difficulties faced by parents with children with special educational needs who do not have any after-school provision and if they want it, end up paying a fortune in the private sector.
Kirsty Hammond, a community activist from Hartcliffe took to the stage to highlight the “broken childcare system” that makes claiming government funding for childcare difficult. Bristol Live spoke to some of the mums marching who told us about the difficulties they faced when trying to work while having children.
READ MORE: LIVE: March of the Mummies takes to the streets of Bristol
Sophie Willcox sent her son to Leaping Lambs nursery so that she could go back to work, only to discover that Ofsted had shut the facility down. She was not given any notice and was all of a sudden left having to work while looking after her two-year-old son.
She’s managed to keep her part-time job by working from home, getting help from the grandparents and having to take holidays. Sophie said: “My son’s nursery got shut down by Ofsted abruptly and we can’t find a new nursery.
“It’s just stressful and a nightmare and we haven’t been able to find a new nursery. Someone else has bought the old nursery so we’re waiting for that to open. If it were a school they’d have measures in place for it to stay open but because it’s a nursery, you’re screwed. We didn’t even get notice, they just called me up on the day and I had to sort my childcare out.“
Lisa Wu-Holmes who has a three-year-old daughter and is pregnant with her second child, said she was looking for a new job until recently but gave up after realising that “trying to find a job while pregnant is basically impossible”. Now that she is out of work, the nursery fees have gone up as her family are no longer entitled to tax-free childcare or the free 30 hours provision for working families.
Lisa said that before having children she lacked sympathy for women who had to juggle work and childcare and used to think that it was their choice to have a child, but now she sees things differently after experiencing some of those difficulties first-hand. She said: “Before I had children I was really naive about inequality against women and it’s only since having a child, I’ve experienced first-hand how difficult it is to work and get a job when you need to also look after a child.
“It’s not only the woman that’s chosen to do that, it’s the men too, but it’s only the woman who pays the price. The male equivalent of me hasn’t had to go through all the things that I have.
“I also understand it from the point of view of employers, that it’s very difficult to juggle the needs [of parents] with what the business needs. I think there’s a lot the government can do to support it. And then nursery fees are absolutely insane, our biggest expense is nursery costs. For anyone who has two, which we will soon, it will be absolutely crippling.
“I know plenty of people who can’t afford to go back to work because their job doesn’t cover the cost of childcare but what they don’t take into account is the long-term impact on their careers and pensions. I think in this generation there’s a lot of dads who want to be progressive but the infrastructure’s not there.
“It’s only two weeks paid paternity, which is rubbish, the really low uptake of shared parental, maybe because it’s still seen as an unusual thing. Often the man earns more, so then it’s less profitable as a couple.
“I think ring-fencing paid [paternity leave] would be really important. We need to support the dads to support the mums.”
Angela Morey was also on the demonstration. She said that after having her first child in 2006 she soon realised that she wouldn’t be able to afford childcare on her minimum wage salary. She later got married, had more children and ended up setting up her own cleaning business as it was the only way she could work around childcare.
She now has ambitions of becoming a Labour MP and is calling for childcare reform so that her child don’t have to go through the same struggles she and her mother before her went through. Angela said: “Working parents often don’t get a choice of career, it’s simply what they can juggle around their childcare responsibilities.
“My mum had the same with me, working as my school dinner lady growing up so she could be available for school pick ups and drop offs. School breakfast clubs and after school clubs can charge from £5-10 a session per child per day which soon adds up. Then there’s the fact school holidays add up to 14 weeks a year. Annual leave from most jobs is four weeks. What are people meant to do?
"Holiday clubs cost £30-£40 a day on average, nurseries are £80-£100 and even with some government help it is still most people’s biggest monthly cost even more than some people’s mortgages. Maternity pay lasts nine months, and then there are no free preschool places until your child is three years old for most working people.
"Change is needed urgently if we aren’t going to hand down the same problems to our own children. The government apparently wants everyone working 40+ hours a week so they can have our taxes, yet what shall we do with our children in those hours?”
Danie Stinchcombe, who has two children, said that employers need to provide flexible working hours for working parents. She said: “When I had my first child I was expected to do a job that I couldn’t do within the hours, I was forced to leave basically.
“They gave me part-time hours but the job ended up being a full-time job, it was ‘fake’ flexible working. I now work for an amazing boss, who is flexible but I know a lot of people don’t have that. I think it should be for everyone.
“My eldest is at school but if I had to pay for two in childcare whilst working, there would be no point in working. It’s not fair that women should have to do that, or anyone in fact.
“I was very lucky because my husband is very supportive, we do share everything but I know, normally, that’s not the case. I feel I'm probably an exception to the rule because we’ve always done everything half and half from day one.
“I know many, many other mothers who- for them, that’s not the case. So I’m doing it for all the mums.”
Rachel, who did not want to give her surname, said that she is having to work while her son naps but after looking at childcare costs, realised that it wasn’t an option for her. She added: “My partner is working incredibly hard and he works weekends as well.
“I do everything at home which is how we’ve worked it out because it makes sense. We have chosen not to go for childcare until this point but now we realise that we can’t really afford it. So now I am working, only in my son’s naps. I nearly didn’t come today because it was his nap time and I’ve got loads of work to do.
“We just had some family move here from New Zealand and they told me that childcare costs are double here and that opened my eyes a bit. They are both doctors and they’re renting here and they are suddenly realising that with one salary, they don’t have anything left.”
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