VIDEO SHOWS: MOTHER OF TWO, LOUISE SHARPLES AT HOME WITH CHILDREN / SHARPLES GROCERY SHOPPING / SOUNDBITES FROM SHARPLES / SOUNDBITE FROM LAUREN FABIANSKI, HEAD OF CAMPAIGNS AND COMMUNICATION AT PREGNANT AND SCREWED / SOUNDBITE FROM RACHEL STATHAM, IPPR ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR WORK AND WELFARE STATE ON THE HIGH COST AND DECLINING AVAILABILITY OF CHILDCARE IN BRITAIN EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT AND SCRIPT BEING RESENT, ORIGINALLY SENT ON MARCH 8, 2023 SHOWS: CLITHEROE, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT - MARCH 1, 2023) (REUTERS - Access All) 1. MOTHER OF TWO, LOUISE SHARPLES, WALKING DOWN STAIRS WITH HER 18-MONTH-OLD DAUGHTER 2. VARIOUS OF SHARPLES WITH HER DAUGHTER 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MOTHER OF TWO, LOUISE SHARPLES, SAYING: "I was a charity shop manager of12 years until very recently, last week. I have now switched to a cleaning job at the minute, which isn't a job that I'd choose, but it just offered that little bit more flexibility, it pays a little bit more. It's not really a job that I would choose, but I felt for the good of my family and for that little bit more flexibility it was something that I needed to do. I do feel a bit like I put my career on hold since having children, based on the cost of childcare basically. I don't feel like, I feel like I've taken a bit of a step back and I probably won't take another step forward until both of them are in school." 4. VARIOUS OF SHARPLES WITH HER DAUGHTER 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MOTHER OF TWO, LOUISE SHARPLES, SAYING: "I don't think parents should be in a position where what you earn is what you pay. I understand they're a business, I understand they have to pay their staff, they have outgoings. But say, for instance, if you're in a minimum wage job, that will be what you pay a nursery that. You work 9 to 5:30, you're paying that straight to another business. And essentially you stress because of it, because you're rushing to drop them off, to get them there on time, you're rushing to get to work, you've rushing to get back to them in time to make sure you pick them up or else there is fees that you incur, it's just a constant rubbish juggle." 6. VARIOUS OF SHARPLES DRESSING HER DAUGHTER 7. SHARPLES PUSHING PRAM OUT THE DOOR 8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF CAMPAIGNS AND COMMUNICATION AT PREGNANT AND SCREWED, LAUREN FABIANSKI, SAYING: "Parents cannot work without good, quality, affordable childcare in the same way that they cannot work without a functioning transport system - it is the same. So we have to see the government invest in this in order to get more women back into the workplace. It is integral, and at the moment, our current system and the lack of funding from the government, from the treasury is failing women and it's failing families." 8. VARIOUS SHARPLES WALKING UP STREET WITH HER DAUGHTERS 10. VARIOUS OF SHARPLES SHOPPING FOR GROCERIES LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT - MARCH 1, 2023) (REUTERS - Access All) 11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) IPPR ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR WORK AND WELFARE STATE, RACHEL STATHAM, SAYING: "That's quite a lot of upfront return for the investment we're asking to be made in early years. And we also know there's longer term economic benefits and that's particularly across the labour market when you see that women particularly who are most likely to be pushed to drop out of work due to care costs, able to stay in work, able to progress in work, and there will be real economic benefits from not seeing that loss of talent across our labour market." CLITHEROE, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT - MARCH 1, 2023) (REUTERS - Access All) 12. VARIOUS OF SHARPLES COOKING FOR HER CHILDREN 13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MOTHER OF TWO, LOUISE SHARPLES, SAYING: "I'm currently at a place realistically where I'll think, like, what am I doing? Why am I working when so many people say to you, like, the children are only young once? And although I agree with that, I'm finding that I'm wanting them to grow up quicker so the financial burden is, like, erased basically. I want to work, I want to teach them. They are two girls so I want to raise two independent, strong girls that see that mums go to work. But I am limited then in in the jobs that I could apply for and take." 14. VARIOUS OF SHARPLES FEEDING HER CHILDREN STORY: Last year, mother-of-two Louise Sharples found herself turning down a new job she knew she would love because when she added up the cost of full-time childcare for her young daughters, it was more than she would have earned. After 12 years as a charity shop manager, Sharples, 35, has now taken what she views as a step back in her career, moving to a part-time but slightly better paid cleaning job until her children are older. A childcare bill of around 800 pounds ($963) - covering four days a week of nursery for 18-month-old Sunnie and wraparound school clubs for 4-year-old Lola - leaves her with around 100 pounds of her wage at the end of the month. "I'd love to work more hours," Sharples told Reuters at the home in northern England she shares with her children and web-developer husband. "There is no incentive to, because it all just goes to childcare. "I am thinking what am I doing, why am I working?" She's not alone. A survey of 24,000 parents published this month by campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed found 76% of mothers who pay for childcare say it no longer makes financial sense for them to work. The Centre for Progressive Policy (CPP) think tank has estimated that around 1.5 million British mums would work more hours if childcare permitted. With more than 1.1 million jobs unfilled in Britain, business groups and researchers have argued that acting on childcare in his budget would do more to unlock greater economic growth that Hunt's attempts to persuade older workers to return from early retirement to ease a tight labour market.. Hunt will lay out his budget on Wednesday (March 15). The Treasury said on Saturday (March 11) the new measures will include the government paying childcare costs up front for low-income parents rather than in arrears, and increasing such payments. According to children's charity Coram, the average annual price for full-time nursery childcare in England for a child under two was more than 14,000 pounds in 2022. That makes Britain's childcare among the most expensive in the world, according to the OECD, taking up nearly 30% of the income of a couple with two young children. Only Switzerland and New Zealand rank higher, spending 33% and 35% respectively, while in Sweden the figure is just 5%. The OECD average stands at 12%. Most childcare for under-5s in England is provided by private companies. The government offers some support, including funding 15 free hours a week for 3- and 4-year-olds, while those on the lowest incomes are reimbursed up to 85% of their costs, although they have to pay upfront. The government says it has spent more than 20 billion pounds in the last five years helping with the cost of childcare. But providers say the funding does not fully cover the cost of the free hours, leaving many on the brink of financial collapse. With energy and food bills surging, many have either had to raise fees further or close. Data from education watchdog Ofsted showed the number of childcare providers in England fell by 5,400 in the year to August 2022, an 8% drop. Lauren Fabianski, head of campaigns and communications at Pregnant Then Screwed, said childcare and early years education should be seen as infrastructure. "Parents cannot work without good quality, affordable childcare," she said. "We have to see the government invest in this in order to get more women back into the workplace." Proposals include lowering the age at which children receive free hours, expanding the number of weeks a year they apply, and boosting funding per hour. While such reforms would cost billions of pounds a year just as the government is trying to bring down its budget deficit, proponents argue that investment in childcare pays for itself. The CPP estimates that if the 1.5 million mothers who want to work more were able to, it would result in at least 9.4 billion pounds in additional earnings a year, boosting economic output by more than 27 billion pounds, or around 1% of GDP. A report in December by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank and charity Save the Children estimated that universally accessible and affordable childcare from six months to the end of primary school at age 11 would provide returns of around 8 billion pounds a year in additional tax contributions and reduced social security spending. "We also know there are longer-term economic benefits ... to not seeing that loss of talent across our labor market," Rachel Statham, an associate director at the IPPR and one of the report's authors, told Reuters. World Bank data shows the labor force participation rate among women in Sweden was around 7 percentage points higher than the UK in 2019. Other countries have started to act. In 2021, Canada announced a C$30 billion investment over five years to help bring down average daily childcare fees to C$10. It has forecast a boost to real GDP of as much as 1.2 percent over 20 years. With a British election expected next year, the opposition Labour Party views childcare as a key battleground. The government is reported to be considering reforms, but has not announced any plans. Labour, which leads in opinion polls, has pledged to "transform childcare," including fully funded breakfast clubs for every primary school in England. Pregnant Then Screwed found 96% of families with a child under 3 were likely to vote for the political party with the best childcare pledge, and Sharples is among them. (Production: Gerhard Mey, Kylie MacLellan and Ben Makori)