Childcare costs are causing a ‘poverty trap’ says advocacy group

Lone parents have been taking to social media to express their anger about the new National Childcare Scheme.

It has been estimated that it will leave some lone parents more than €80 worse off every week. Louise Bayliss, spokesperson for S.P.A.R.K said that while families on a combined income of €90,000 a year will be roughly €5 better off under the new scheme, the poorest families will be the hardest hit.

"Minister Zappone acknowledges five percent of parents will be worse off on the scheme. Our issue is, the five percent that lose out are all the poorest recipients on the targeted schemes at the moment, and the reality is the vast majority (if not all) will be lone parents."

Bayliss says that working lone parents who currently avail of partially subsidised childcare, "will see a minimum loss of €81.25 per week." Due to the low income of many lone parents, S.P.A.R.K says that this rise in childcare costs will force some lone parents out of the workforce. Lone parents currently doing CE schemes or FAS training courses will be at a loss under the new National Childcare Scheme, with a rise of €55 a week in their childcare costs, up from  €15 to €70.

"In effect, they will be locked out of training and educational opportunities. The majority will benefit only slightly, but the poorest will loses out thousands per year."

https://twitter.com/SparkIreland/status/1127928289270665216 Some lone parents have already been forced out of the workforce by the cost of childcare, which is amongst the highest in the world. Speaking on Facebook, Lynne from Dublin says that the cost of childcare meant she had to give up her job.

"I had to pay a friend €30 a week just to walk my son across the road to school. There was no other option and I didn’t have any family close by."

When her second child was born, Lynne says she couldn’t afford the cost of a crèche or private childcare. Laoise lives in Longford and says that there is a shortage of places near where she lives. As a result, Laoise has been forced to take unpaid leave from her job while she waits for a childcare place to become available. Such is the demand that S.P.A.R.K member Sorcha says crèches are able to pick and choose who they accept.

"A lot of crèches will only accept a child for a full-time place under the subsidy scheme but not for part-time. Also, there’s a glaring divide between services offered by individual crèches or even the larger chains in e.g. rural vs. urban areas".

Other lone parents spoke of the difficulty of finding childcare when doing shift work. Dymphna who is a mother of six says finding childcare is a "nightmare". Dymphna works outside office hours and says childcare is a constant struggle and that she has to pay more as it's not nine to five.

"When working irregular hours the cost makes it not worth your while going to work."

Edel is the lone mother of two who works outside of crèche hours. Edel's ex lives nearby but he won't help to look after their children so Edel pays a private childminder. She says the cost of childcare takes up a huge portion of her wages.

"After child care and mortgage I've not much left."

Some working lone parents with school-age children have a childcare problem during summer. Jennifer from Dublin uses summer camps as childcare for her school-age children but she says that the times and locations of the camps mean she has to try and find a car to use each summer.

"So many of them don’t start until 10 am and most jobs start much earlier than that. It’s a nightmare trying to sort a car for summer."

Bayliss is highly critical of the new National Childcare Scheme.

"Poverty has doubled for working lone parents. The new childcare scheme ends targeted schemes for poor families to give a tiny subsidy to the many. The solutions are there, the will is missing."