The childcare debt spiral...

There's not much comfort in knowing you're not alone as you stare at the big fat minus sign on your bank statement.

That minus sign comes in front of a figure that is getting steadily bigger because of the vast sums of money we pay for childcare. For the last four months we've had to cough up more than a thousand pounds for three days childcare for two kids. That's way more than our mortgage. It's more than many people's yearly wage. So it's hardly surprising that we, together with a quarter of working parents surveyed by the Daycare Trust and Save the Children (see here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-14806886) are having to cope with increasing levels of debt incurred just so we can work.

Let's break down the figures. Our eldest has just this month started getting 15 hours free childcare. We'll still pay out about £800 a month for him and our nine month-old. This year, before tax, my partner and I will between us have to earn about £15,000 in order that both of us can work. That's about a quarter of our joint income. And god help anyone trying to pay for childcare on their own. There is some financial help if you're on a lower income, but the Daycare Trust says that "a quarter of low-income parents said they had given up work and a third had turned down work because of childcare costs. More than half (58%) of these families said they were no better off working and paying for childcare."

We don't have the option of giving up work - we are better off after paying for childcare and we need that money. But I did the sums yesterday, and even with the subsidy, now we've had a second baby, we're going to be between £250-£350 a month short.

It's frightening to think that you can be on a very respectable joint income (which takes you just outside the bracket for any tax credits), and have structural debt built into your monthly budget. I monitor this minutely and regularly for slack, without finding anything approaching a saving that would amount to £3000-£4000 a year.

There'll be no additional state help, clearly, to make trying to earn a living less expensive. So we'll just have to find more work. No problem.  There's loads of it around.