Economic inactivity: Childcare costs are forcing people out of work
A woman in east Belfast has had to temporarily stop working because she could not afford the cost of childcare.Mum-of-three Michelle Martin has taken a career break because her childcare costs were more expensive than her salary as a special needs classroom assistant in east Belfast.She said when her two older children were in nursery in 2017 and 2018, the price then was £45 per day."Now we are looking between £70-80 per day, just for one child and then I would need wraparound care on top of that."
When she sat down and worked out the numbers, their childcare bill would be about £2,000 a month, which is more than she was earning.She said: "I have trained very hard to be in the position that I'm in and I've been in the job for 14 years, it's a job I really enjoy and a job that I think I'm good at, so having to make that decision to come out wasn't easy."I was quite upset about it at the time, the only thing stopping me from going back to work is the cost of childcare."Unfortunately the pay isn't great from the education board for special needs classroom assistants, so having the increased childcare costs is having a real knock on effect."
'I would love to work'
She said the 15% subsidy works out about £400 a month, but as their childcare bill is about £2,000 per month, she described it as "a bit of a drop in the ocean"."I would love to go back to work. I think even just for my mental health and being out of the house and having connections within work and the future training you have within work. "It's something I want to do, I've done my degree in it. It was always my lifelong goal to be in this position so the fact that I have had to come out is a bitter pill to swallow."
Economic inactivity is one of the biggest problems facing the Northern Ireland economy.It refers to the number of people who are not in work nor looking for a job and there are many reasons why people have to leave the workforce.
Rebecca Harper, co-founder of Melted Parents campaign group, says they are being inundated with messages from parents in a similar position to Michelle."We know there's a skills shortage in Northern Ireland that is set to get worse and yet we are contacted every single day by incredibly skilled, mostly women, like doctors and nurses who are leaving the workforce due to childcare costs," she said."Not only can you not afford to go to work, but you also cannot afford to live off one salary so families are at absolute crisis point because of the childcare costs in Northern Ireland."She said many childcare providers were putting up prices now to cover the increases in National Insurance contributions and minimum wage in April."It's very easy for people to say 'you shouldn't have had kids if you can't afford them', but childcare fees have increased astronomically in the last few years in a way that no-one could have foreseen. "But also, we need people to be having children because we need future taxpayers and a future workforce."
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