News

Study reveals that Swindon parents need to work 91 hours to pay for monthly childcare

By Jessica Durston - 10 January 2023

Community

According to online doll, pram and pushchair store Play Like Mum, Swindon is ranked as the fourth least affordable for childcare in the UK, as parents need to work 91 hours to pay for monthly childcare.

New research by Play Like Mum has looked at factors such as monthly childcare cost, salary and hourly wages to reveal the UK cities with the least and most affordable childcare.

The study has found that Luton is the most expensive UK town or city for monthly childcare costs, and that Swindon appears in fourth place in this list.

Those interested can dig further into the data online at: https://www.playlikemum.com/cost-of-childcare/

The 10 UK cities/towns with the most expensive monthly childcare costs can be found ranked in the table below:

Rank	City/Town	Monthly Cost of Childcare	Average Monthly Salary (After Tax)	Hourly Wage	Hours to Pay for Childcare	% of Wages on Childcare
1	Luton	£1,494.44	£2,100.00	£12.92	116	71.16%
2	Worthing	£1,200.00	£1,956.00	£12.04	100	61.35%
3	Northampton	£1,100.00	£1,840.00	£11.32	97	59.78%
4	Swindon	£1,266.67	£2,252.00	£13.86	91	56.25%
5	Wigan	£1,025.00	£1,840.00	£11.32	91	55.71%
6	Norwich	£1,066.67	£1,932.00	£11.89	90	55.21%
7	York	£1,083.33	£1,980.00	£12.18	89	54.71%
8	Nottingham	£983.33	£1,916.00	£11.79	83	51.32%
9	Milton Keynes	£1,089.55	£2,208.00	£13.59	80	49.35%
10	Cambridge	£1,159.70	£2,396.00	£14.74	79	48.40%

As can be seen from the data in the table above, in Swindon, parents could be working an average of 91 hours to cover the costs, amounting to 56.25% of their wages.

Play Like Mum's research also found that parents in Nottingham, York, Norwich, Wigan, Northampton and Worthing are also spending over 50% of their income on childcare - working over 83 hours to cover the costs.

Childcare was found to have been much more affordable in the North of the UK, as parents spend around 17% of their wages on childcare, compared to the South, where parents spend over 70% of their wages on childcare.

Play Like Mum is an online doll, pram and pushchair store, selling a wide range of products and accessories. More information about the company can be found on its website at https://www.playlikemum.com/