I really need to get something off my chest without getting in a rage:
The UK and it's childcare problem.
I count my lucky stars every single day that I work for myself and from home, and that means I can play a more active role in looking after my daughter.
But that does come at a cost to my work (when something this cute lives in your home, it's VERY easy to get distracted).
What's more, with my partner on the cusp of her return to work, the intensity of the childcare situation is coming to the fore.
If she didn't have a flexible back to work plan, we would be in real trouble. Yet even with a flexible working plan in place, we are highly dependent on the government funded childcare to create the space for us both to work.
Nevertheless, we end up in a no win situation - where on one side my partner is only able to work part time and thus impacting our earnings as a family, during a time when we really need to be boosting our earnings to make ends meet.
On the flip side, she can go back to work full time but any extra income she might generate for us would go straight into the cost of childcare for the other days she is back in work. We are in effect no better off financially.
Other than Switzerland, the UK has the highest cost of childcare of any country (OECD 2022), coming in at on average 40% of the UK's average wage. That is absolute insanity.
Yet despite all this money changing hands, the impact on the UK economy is immeasurable. This is a picture of our reality:
📈 As a business owner I am unable to fully invest my own time, energy and profits into growth and creating jobs
💪 My partner is unable to make a full return to the workforce and contribute to her employers growth
🏡 We're forced as a family to relocate closer to informal childcare (in the form of grandparents) - moving away from a local economy that depends on families with high earning potential to fuel local businesses outside of tourist season
👵🏽 Grandparents who still want to and are able to work - unable to do so as they commit themselves to childcare responsibilities.
The truth is, childcare is seen as a perk by this country.
The outdated rhetoric of 'previous generations getting by just fine', or politicians (who were raised by nannies or live in miserable relationships with kids who hate them) telling working people that they should be getting by just fine.
I am unwilling to compromise on my intention to be the best possible dad I can be. And that is just as much about being present as a dad as it is about building a business that can support my family too.
Yet the single biggest blocker to that reality, is childcare.
So let's get down to it. How on earth does it change - and how on earth do we bring this change about?
Our kids future and the future of this country depends on it.
#childcare #change #UKeconomy