The report Gender Brief, by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), includes a chapter entitled 'Can Parents Afford to Work? Childcare costs, tax benefit policies and work incentives'.
The study found that the cost of a full-time place for two-year-olds was around a quarter of the average wage, compared with an average of 16 per cent across all of the 27 countries in the OECD. The cost of childcare as a proportion of salaries was higher only in Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg and Switzerland. However, the study found that benefits such as tax credits and childcare vouchers meant that the net cost of childcare in the UK was much lower for those earning below-average wages.
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