The ever-rising cost of living and childcare is making many people have to make the difficult decision on whether to continue working, or give up their career. A study has shown that a staggering 1 in 5 people are now considering quitting their jobs due to this.

The study by Easy Offices, surveyed 2000 people across the country, asking how they felt about topics surrounding parental leave, childcare costs and the financial burdens surrounding time away from work. It was found that a striking 17% of people surveyed agreed that childcare costs have caused them to consider leaving work.

Interestingly, attitudes varied considerably depending on the type of job people have. The industries where people were most likely to leave their work to save on childcare were: Sales, media and marketing (35.2%), retail, catering and leisure (35.2%), and Finance (34.7%)

Key findings:

• 1 in 5 UK workers consider quitting their jobs for good due to childcare costs
• 18% of Brits want to have children, but cannot afford it
• 23% said they would consider taking a new job with a lower salary in return for better parental benefits
• 18% of Brits reported childcare costs were a prohibitive factor in deciding on whether to start a family, rising to 37% in under 25’s
• On average, respondents said they would be willing to sacrifice 9% of their salary for childcare vouchers
• 1% of people in the UK capital London have not had children due to high childcare costs
• 6% in Birmingham, and 20.9% in Liverpool have chosen not to have children due to these costs.

The breakdown from the study, of the impact of expensive childcare by city is shown below:

37% of under 25’s are deciding not to have children due to childcare costs

Due to the current cost of living crisis in the UK, many young people are switched off from the idea of starting a family, as childcare costs are too high. Over a third of under 25’s (37%) reported childcare costs were prohibiting them from starting a family. For those over 25, it was 18% choosing not to start a family due to the costs.

The five UK cities where this mindset was most prominent was London (24.1%), Birmingham (22.6%), Liverpool (20.9%), Manchester (19.9%), and Glasgow (18.8%).

The impact of expensive childcare breakdown by industry from the study is shown below:

How companies can support parents with the cost of childcare

Around 23% of employees agree that better paid parental leave would be an encouragement in starting a family. Businesses can help by:

• Give mothers and fathers the same benefits
• Establish more family-friendly policies
• Consider using coworking spaces with childcare facilities
• Allow for flexible and customised schedules
• Build a strong and empathetic company culture

You can read the full study here.