Nikki Knight was fortunate that her parents agreed to make the 150-mile move from Loughborough to Gloucestershire to help with childcare – otherwise she might have had to quit her job.
The mother of two told i: “We would have found it extremely challenging financially had my parents not moved. I most likely would have needed to either cut my hours or leave my job completely if they hadn’t helped us out.”
Nikki, a digital marketing expert who also runs the blog Unicorn, Dinosaurs and Me, and her husband, a teacher, estimate they have saved £550 a month in childcare costs as a result of free support from her parents.
“Nursery fees would have been around £250 extra per month plus there would have been after-school care for my daughter which would have been around £300 per month. My parents didn’t charge anything.”
She is one of many around the country who rely on their parents to help them look after their children with recent research from Zoopla finding the average family relies on nine hours of grandparent childcare support a week.
It found 24 per cent of parents say that they would like to move to a different area but can’t as they need to remain near the grandparents.
Nikki, 38, has two children aged six and 11. When she was pregnant with her second child, her parents offered to move after retiring to be closer to her and her children.
“They looked after my son one day a week for two years until Covid hit and had my daughter four days a week after school for two years.
“They still help out with after-school care for my daughter when my son has a hospital appointment which is around two afternoons a month now.”
Between 2022 to 2024, Nikki’s parents looked after her daughter a lot including before and after school, weekends and the occasional overnight.
This is because her son was sadly being treated for cancer. He is now in remission and finished treatment three months ago. Without their support, the whole experience would have been even more difficult.
She believes more needs to be done to help parents with childcare.
“Childcare needs to be affordable and accessible. We live in quite a rural area and wraparound childcare is virtually impossible to find. Most people either pay for a nanny, rely on friends and family or change their working pattern.”
She said it would have been “extremely challenging” if they didn’t have the help of parents.
“The next government needs to prioritise parents more. They want people to go back to work but if parents can’t find or can’t afford childcare then what are they supposed to do?
“Additionally, there should be more financial help which can be accessed faster if a child becomes seriously ill. There are benefits available for maternity leave but nothing is available for months if a parent has to give up work to care for a sick or disabled child.”