Parents with children in the Early years facing financial problems

It has recently emerged that parents with children who attend an early years setting are likely to face further financial struggles on top of paying for childcare fees. Banks and financial lenders are taking into account whether a family are currently paying childcare fees before deciding on a mortgage amount that a family can borrow, due to the high pressure that childcare fees can have on financial stability. If a family with two working parents are paying for two children to attend an early years setting, lenders are reducing the mortgage amount that they can borrow by up to 25%. This is very unwelcome news, as many are already struggling with the ever increasing childcare fees and rental fees.

Having the mortgage amount parents can expect to borrow so dramatically reduced due to childcare fees means many parents although both working and earning considerable amounts of money may now find themselves renting for longer periods until childcare fees no longer have to paid. This is a huge setback for many families hoping to get onto the property ladder and own a family home of their own.

With childcare fees rising at a steady rate it could be suggested that mortgages are going to become more and more difficult for parents to secure and renting could be the only possibility to many families for a long period. Mortgage lenders are also investigating into those parents who are taking maternity around the same time as getting a mortgage; with many requesting to see a set date of the parent returning to work to ensure they can afford repayments. This is putting a lot of added pressure onto new parents to return to work and to put their children into childcare settings.

It is no surprise many parents are feeling stuck in their financial situations and are finding it difficult to make the decision to pay for childcare fees or whether to stay at home. It seems unfair that parents are facing so many restrictions when early years childcare payments are only required for around 4-5 years and a mortgage agreement often lasts for 25 years.