PARENTS in Kendal are struggling to foot the bill to pay for their young children to be looked after.

In the past seven years, six childcare providers have closed in Kendal.

Prior to this in 2010 Busy Bees, which operated out of Kendal College at the Milnthorpe Road site, closed down after more than 15 years of offering childcare for students and employees at the college. 

The South Lakes MP Tim Farron raised the issue in parliament during a Westminster Hall debate.

He gave two case studies of constituents who had written to him raising the lack of accessible and affordable childcare as a concern. 

Mr Farron said: “A constituent who contacted me has a five-year-old and an 18-month-old. She is a teaching assistant and wants to return to work, but childcare for the 18-month-old is so expensive that there is simply no point. The childcare cost would be more than her wage. That speaks for many other people and their experiences, too.

“Another mum got in touch with me, telling me that she spends more on childcare than she does on her mortgage. She calculated that she will spend about £63,000 on childcare for her two children before they go to school. That includes the 30 free hours and a couple of days a week covered by family. She works for the NHS, but she is considering leaving her job.

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“Another constituent was a nurse at Westmorland General Hospital. She wanted to return to work after having her daughter, but her pay would not be enough to cover the childcare bill. She would earn less money if she returned to work." 

Mr Farron blamed lack of government funding and called for free childcare for children aged two to four, and for children aged between nine and 24 months whose parents or guardians are at work 35 hours a week, 48 weeks a year.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We recognise that families and early years providers across the country are facing financial pressures. That’s why we have spent more than £20 billion over the past five years to support families with the cost of childcare.

“This Government has doubled the entitlement for working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds to 30 hours and introduced 15 free hours a week for disadvantaged 2-year-olds. On top of this, working parents on Universal Credit may be eligible for help with up to 85 per cent of their childcare costs through Universal Credit to support with the costs of childcare.”