'My husband might give up work to care for our kids' - nursery bills in Wales highest in Britain

Charlotte Seddon

Mum-of-two Charlotte Seddon says she and her husband might have had more children if it wasn't for the high cost of childcare in Wales.

"We would have had the children closer together. We possibly may have had more," said Seddon, from Connah's Quay.

"But the cost of childcare is the main concern about having them... And I think a lot of the mums that I speak to are in the same situation."

Nursery costs for under-twos are more expensive in Wales than anywhere else in Great Britain, according to the children's charity Coram.

Parents across Wales have been in touch with BBC Your Voice about rising childcare costs ahead of the Senedd election on 7 May.

Coram's most recent survey found that the average cost of a part-time nursery place in Wales was £166.33 a week - an increase of 8% on 2025.

In Wales, there are two funded childcare schemes for children aged two, three and four.

Under the Childcare Offer, parents and guardians of three and four-year-old children can claim up to 30 hours of free childcare each week, for up to 48 weeks of the year.

Flying Start provides 12.5 hours of free childcare per week to two-year-olds in eligible areas. The plan is for this to gradually be rolled out to all areas.

However, in England parents can claim 30 hours of free childcare a week for children from nine months old.

Seddon, who is currently on maternity leave from her job in insurance, also has a three-year-old son and is now getting the funded nursery hours for him.

But she said having free childcare from nine months would have made a huge difference, as she calculated that a mum in England in her situation would have been £12,000 better off over the past two years.

The cost of childcare is why she and her husband waited to have their daughter.

Seddon said her husband is considering leaving his job to care for their daughter once she returns to work, because the nursery bills will exceed his pay.

Some funded hours of childcare would be a huge help, she added.

"Our [nursery] bill's now about £350 a month for the three days a week," said Seddon, at a baby music class in Flintshire, close to the border with England.

"Prior to that it was £900 a month. We couldn't have had two bills that high because it's more than mortgage payments and everything else.

"You've just got to sacrifice for those first three years or save up. We did beforehand, in order to make sure we could afford it."

She added: "If we could just get the same support that England are getting, that would go a long way."

'Postcode lottery'

Amy Doyle moved to Flintshire from Chester after becoming pregnant with her now six-month-old son, Dexter, but did not realise the difference in the childcare offer between Wales and England.

"It's a bit upsetting to be honest because when you think about how it goes, we're all part of the United Kingdom, so you feel like it should be all for one," she said.

Elouise Hill lives in England and said she was "really grateful" that she would get the get the 30 hours on offer there when her baby daughter, Cassandra, reaches nine months.

She said she felt "sad" for her mum friends in Wales.

"When you live around the border, it really can feel like a postcode lottery," she said.

"I feel incredibly fortunate but I appreciate that just living a few houses down can make such a difference in this time of your life."

But it's not just parents who are feeling the squeeze. Some childcare providers say they are also struggling.

Charlotte Forrester owns nurseries in both Cardiff and Bath, and said she could see the pros and cons of both systems.

She said parents in Wales were paying upwards of £500 a month more than parents in England, but admitted there had been a "lot of challenges" in England on the rollout of the 30 hours provision, with a funding shortfall resulting in some settings closing down - especially in deprived areas.

Forrester, who owns the Si Lwli nursery in Whitchurch, said expanding free childcare hours in Wales could cause similar issues or result in fees going up while the "nice" extras nurseries can offer being reduced.

"Ultimately if your cost of delivering a service privately is £10 or £11-an-hour and you're only receiving £5 or £6-an-hour, the discrepancy and the gap has to be paid by somebody, either absorbed by the setting, paid by the parent or a shared absorption of cost."

She said the 2.5 hours per day offered by the Flying Start scheme was not always practical for working parents who still needed care for the rest of the day.

According to David Goodyer, CEO of umbrella organisation Early Years Wales, which has 850 childcare provider members, the system is "fragmented" with a "multitude of funding pathways" that can make it difficult to navigate.

He said the sector was also "vulnerable" to cost shocks, such as increases in energy prices.

Staffing was also a challenge, he said, because of carer-child ratios and the training required.

He said low pay meant many childcare staff looked for higher paid work in industries like retail or hospitality.

He said he understood why parents in Wales were calling for parity with England, but said the systems were not "like-for-like".

"We recognise that parents would like this offer to come in earlier, and I think for us it's about how do we do that in Wales, working with the sector... to keep it high quality and make it a valuable experience for the families and for the children."

What do Wales' political parties say they will do about childcare?

Ahead of the Senedd election, political parties are making various pledges about what they would offer in regards to childcare Wales.

Labour is promising to expand funded childcare to babies from nine months old and says its approach would be "measured" to avoid "access difficulties" seen across the border.

Plaid Cymru and the Green Party have promised 20 hours of free childcare per week for children from nine months to four years old, on top of the existing offer.

The Liberal Democrats have promised 30 hours a week for the same age group.

The Conservatives are also promising 30 hours of childcare or the option to nominate a grandparent for a Grandparent Childcare Payment.

Reform UK has not committed to any childcare policy, but says it has plans to tackle the cost of living crisis.

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