8 hours ago
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The summer holidays are in full swing, bringing the annual challenge many parents face in balancing work and looking after school-age children. With children off school for about 13 weeks a year, but most employees entitled to far less annual leave, parents have told the Guardian that the sums simply do not add up.
New research suggests arranging six weeks of holiday childcare can cost working parents up to £1,145 a child, while almost three-quarters of parents say the summer childcare juggle can damage their career.
We spoke to parents about the creative, and sometimes costly, ways they are making it work.
In Northern Ireland, Emma Willis, 35, relies on flexible working as a stock processor for a charity and her husband’s ability to work from home to get through the summer holidays with their three children, aged 15, 13 and 10.
Willis, who works part-time on minimum wage, says if her husband lost the ability to work from home she would probably have to give up her job.
“I long to work a better job with more hours to enhance all of our lives but right now I have to sit on my hands and keep the plates spinning,” she says. “At the moment, it’s just about getting by. I think that’s what a lot of families are doing – just doing the best they can.”
While the family can manage without paid childcare, she says the children spend much of the holidays at home and she wishes they had more opportunities for activities and trips.
“I feel like our arrangement isn’t great for the kids. They are stuck at home most of the summer and we don’t have the money to engage them in many extracurricular activities.”
It can be harder for those with younger children who are less likely to be able to entertain themselves. Melany Rose, 39, from east London, came up with a radical plan after realising that all her parent friends were taking annual leave on the same day only to meet up in the park.
This inspired her to set up a community childcare rota with nine families.
“There is no point wasting your annual leave allowance just to get through the summer when there’s a creative solution.”
The rota involves 14 children from nine families, though never all at once because families dip in and out depending on trips away and other childcare arrangements. Using a shared spreadsheet, parents take turns, with at least two adults taking the children on adventures to museums, splash parks and other free or low-cost attractions.
The system has eliminated the need for holiday clubs, which can cost £60 a day, and saved families thousands of pounds since they first began.
“Our rota crew have the best summer ever and as adults, we’ve really all bonded. It’s the base of our friendship group now,” she says. “No one gets parent burnout either … six or seven weeks is a long time to be with your kids while you’re trying to juggle working.”
Joe*, from Birmingham, is part of a blended family. He and his wife have a four-year-old together, while he has two other children under 12 who stay with them about 30% of the time, and his wife has a preteen who is with them about 80% of the time.
To cover the six-week summer break, the couple work compressed hours and alternate their non-working days to plug gaps in childcare, using paid holiday clubs only where they feel they are most needed.
He says the biggest challenge is the constant planning. “We have two shared calendars … and we negotiate the summer holidays because we have to work out how we all work, live and keep the kids safe. That’s normally a conversation a few months in advance.”
Diane, 45, from Horsham in West Sussex, gave up her 17-year career in accounts after having children, as she realised the cost of childcare for her son, now 10, and daughter, 7, would leave them financially worse off. Instead she retrained as a school kitchen lead, allowing her to work only in term time, supplementing this with a Saturday retail job.
“I left the profession I worked and trained for and took a complete sidestep into working in school kitchens. It’s less pay, but we’re better off financially.”
Keeping two children entertained still takes weeks of planning, however. Diane relies on free and low-cost council events, booking activities as early as possible before places disappear.
Her son has special educational needs, adding another layer of complexity: “There are a lot of holiday clubs that just won’t take a Send child full stop … Finding support or activities for your child that’s appropriate for your child, it’s an ongoing battle.”
For those who work full-time, the summer holidays can be a huge expense. Jenny, 45, from Newark-on-Trent, and her husband rely on flexible working, annual leave and a patchwork of holiday clubs and activities with their two children, aged six and nine.
To keep track of it all, she has created what she describes as an “epic colour-coded Excel spreadsheet”, mapping out nine different clubs. “Because we’re all over the place I frequently panic that I’m not where I should be,” she says.
When they can, the family uses childcare vouchers, a legacy salary sacrifice scheme not currently open to new applicants that allows participants to pay for registered childcare from pre-tax income. The vouchers covered almost half their paid childcare, but the rest costs about £50 to £60 a day. “We’re dipping into savings,” Jenny says, “but we want them to feel like they’re having a proper holiday.”
*Name has been changed
