Covid crisis is ‘destroying women’s careers’ according to survey of nearly 20,000 mothers – as half say they do not have enough childcare to be able to work

• Half of working mothers lack the necessary childcare to enable them to work 
• Survey of 20,000 mothers shows 70 per cent have had to work fewer hours during Covid crisis while two thirds said shortfall in childcare was the reason
• Pregnant Then Screwed campaign group said that Boris Johnson’s end to ‘stay at home’ messaging ‘completely ignores the realities facing women’ 

The coronavirus crisis has destroyed women’s careers as half of working mothers are lacking the necessary childcare to enable them to work, according to a survey.

Over 70 per cent of mothers have had to work fewer hours because of childcare issues, while two thirds of those furloughed said that a shortfall in childcare was the reason, a survey of nearly 20,000 mothers has revealed. 

Research showing the impact of childcare closures on women found that while 81 per cent of employed mothers need childcare to be able to work, some 51 per cent do not have the necessary provisions in place to allow them to do so.

Campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed questioned 19,950 mothers and pregnant women amid an easing of the work-from-home guidance.

Announcing an end to the Government’s ‘stay at home’ messaging, Boris Johnson last week said it will be up to employers to discuss with workers whether it is safe to return from August 1.

But Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, said this ‘completely ignores the realities facing women’.

The coronavirus crisis has destroyed women’s careers as half of working mothers are lacking the necessary childcare to enable them to work. Over 70 per cent of mothers have had to work fewer hours because of childcare issues, while two thirds of those furloughed said that a shortfall in childcare was the reason, a survey of nearly 20,000 mothers has revealed (stock)

Research showing the impact of childcare closures on women found that while 81 per cent of employed mothers need childcare to be able to work, 51 per cent do not have the necessary provisions in place to allow them to do so. Campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed questioned 19,950 mothers amid an easing of the work-from-home guidance (stock)

‘This lack of childcare is destroying women’s careers, they are being made redundant, they are being forced to cut their hours, and they are being treated negatively all because they are picking up the unpaid labour,’ she said.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer warned that parents were being put in an ‘impossible position’ over a return to offices due to a lack of childcare support.

Conducted online between July 16-18, the survey found 15 per cent of mothers have been made redundant, or think they could be in the next six months, while almost half (46 per cent) of those said that a lack of childcare played a role.

What does the Pregnant Then Screwed poll show? 

According to the Pregnant Then Screwed survey, which questioned working mothers: 

• 72 per cent worked fewer hours due to lack of childcare;
• 15 per cent had been made redundant or were facing redundancy, with 46 per cent of those citing a lack of childcare as the reason;
• 81 per cent needed childcare to be able to do their paid work, but only 49 per cent had the childcare they required; 
• 11 per cent of pregnant women were made redundant or expected to be – of these, 57 per cent were pregnant black women;
• 74 per cent of self-employed women had their earning potential reduced because of a lack of access to childcare. 

Some 11.2 per cent of pregnant women have been made redundant or expect to be during the crisis, with just over half (53.2 per cent) believing that their pregnancy was a factor – rising to 66.7 per cent among black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) women.  

Ms Brearley said: ‘Your employer must provide pregnant women with a detailed risk assessment to show how they will keep you safe. 

‘The risk assessment should demonstrate that you are able to socially distance including on your commute. If they can’t do this then they must allow you to work from home and where that’s not possible they should suspend you on full pay. 

‘Not furlough, not sick pay, not enforced early maternity leave. It is simply not ok to continue treating pregnant workers as collateral damage throughout this pandemic, when we know that at least five pregnant women have already died from the virus. 

‘The confusion surrounding this is impalpable, it’s the law, it’s women’s legal rights the same ones that have been in place since 1999 with the management of health and safety at work regulations.’ 

The poll also found that, in the past four months, 67 per cent of key workers questioned had been forced to cut hours because of lack of access to childcare, according to The Guardian newspaper.

Responses shared with the newspaper also show that among 1,756 pregnant key workers questioned, some 30.5 per cent had been suspended on incorrect terms, such as being told to take sick leave or begin maternity leave early.

Meanwhile, some 74 per cent of self-employed mothers said lack of access to childcare, due to schools and facilities closing, had reduced their self-employed earning potential.

‘We need to see provisions in place to support mothers who are struggling with childcare through no fault of their own,’ Ms Brearley said.

‘We need the Government to open its eyes to the gender imbalance that Covid-19 is exacerbating and we need to help pregnant women and mums to be treated on merit, not on how many kids they have. The time to change this is now.’

It comes as NHS England said it will contribute towards the cost of childcare, in a move to encourage hundreds of doctors with family responsibilities to return to general practice.

Qualified GPs hoping to return to the NHS will be able to claim up to £2,000 per child or dependant family member to help meet caring costs while on a training placement.

Now get back to work: Boris Johnson orders civil servants to return to their desks by the end of next week – but top firms are still encouraging staff to stay at home

By Jason Groves, Matt Oliver and Lucy White for the Daily Mail 

Whitehall departments were last night told to order thousands of civil servants back to their desks to start clearing the backlog in public services – while top firms are still encouraging employees to work remotely.

Boris Johnson has told mandarins to tear up the ‘work from home’ guidance which has been in place since March and start getting officials back to the office from the end of next week.

In a letter to all Whitehall ministries civil service chief Alex Chisholm said it was time to ‘change the default that civil servants should work from home, and accelerate the return to the workplace from August 1’.

Boris Johnson has told mandarins to tear up the ‘work from home’ guidance which has been in place since March and start getting officials back to the office from the end of next week

Meanwhile Britain’s biggest businesses have told hundreds of thousands of office staff to carry on working at home despite growing fears for city centre shops and eateries, a Mail audit has found.

Top firms employing 400,000 staff have only sent back about 40,000 to the workplace so far, after many switched to remote working during the virus crisis.

Unilever, BT, Royal Bank of Scotland, Rolls-Royce and GlaxoSmithKline are among those who still have no immediate plans to do so, despite official guidance giving the all-clear from August 1.

But Whitehall departments have been told to prepare assessments of ‘productivity impacts associated with remote working… and your plans to address any backlogs in service fulfilment that have built up as a result of enforced absence from office working’. 

Unilever, BT, Royal Bank of Scotland, Rolls-Royce and GlaxoSmithKline are among those who still have no immediate plans to do so, despite official guidance giving the all-clear from August 1

The Mail revealed this week that huge delays have built up for key services including passports, driving licences and birth certificates after Government departments sent thousands of key staff home.

Figures showed that more than 400,000 people are waiting for a passport, with advice now saying to only apply if travelling urgently.

The Prime Minister has told officials he wants the backlog cleared by the end of September.He is said to be convinced that the ‘work from home’ edict has proved a major blow to productivity.

During a visit to a GP surgery in east London yesterday Mr Johnson said: ‘I want to see a massive effort now by the country to psychologically to stop thinking of coronavirus as something that makes it impossible to do things and start really looking at tackling the problems of the British people.’

The Prime Minister’s plan to get Britain back to a semblance of normality was dealt a blow as top firms told staff they can continue to work remotely

But the Prime Minister’s plan to get Britain back to a semblance of normality was dealt a blow as top firms told staff they can continue to work remotely. Several bosses say they now expect home working to become the ‘new normal’.

M&G, one of Britain’s biggest fund managers, said it was in no rush for staff to return and that remote working would ‘continue for the foreseeable future’. 

But critics warned the prolonged office exodus could deal a terminal blow to the High Street unless more staff return. 

Ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan-Smith, a former work and pensions secretary, said big companies had ‘an obligation to get people back to work’.

A Mail audit of 60 top firms found many had yet to plan a return to the office. Just one quarter had plans to bring staff back in the next two months.

Coca-Cola, Facebook, Google, Pearson, RBS and Vodafone – which employ a combined 70,000 – are among those who are not planning to do so until next year.

A Mail audit of 60 top firms found many had yet to plan a return to the office. Just one quarter had plans to bring staff back in the next two months

We may have to wear masks for another year, warns PM

By Jason Groves and Arthur Martin for the Daily Mail

Masks could remain compulsory in shops for at least a year, Boris Johnson suggested yesterday.

The Prime Minister declined to put a precise time scale on the new rules requiring people to wear a face covering in all shops or face a £100 fine.

And he implied the mask policy was likely to stay in place for many months as the Government tries to open up the economy while avoiding a second wave of coronavirus.

On a visit to a GP surgery in east London, during which he donned a mask, the PM said lifting the rule would ‘depend on our continued ability to drive down the virus’.

The Prime Minister declined to put a precise time scale on the new rules requiring people to wear a face covering in all shops or face a £100 fine

However, Mr Johnson added it was likely to be ‘the middle of next year’ before the UK was ‘well on the way past it’.

Attempts to make sure people wear masks in shops hit teething problems as the rules came into force yesterday.

Police and retailers refused to enforce the requirement and the care minister suggested people should not be ‘accosted’ if they failed to wear one.

Officers claimed they do not have the resources and said the ‘greater onus’ should be on shopkeepers to make sure their customers cover their faces.

But supermarkets insisted it is up to the police to enforce the rules and said their staff would not be challenging those without masks amid fears of violent attacks.

Wearing a mask also became compulsory in banks, post offices, shopping centres, petrol stations and transport hubs yesterday.

The PM implied the mask policy was likely to stay in place for many months as the Government tries to open up the economy while avoiding a second wave of coronavirus

Only young children and people with medical conditions affected by a mask are exempt. Police chiefs across the country said their officers would not be routinely enforcing the regulations and they would only be sent out ‘as a last resort’.

Thousands of people were spotted visiting shops yesterday without wearing a face covering.

Marks & Spencer, Co-op, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Iceland, Asda and Morrisons have said it is not up to their workers to enforce the rules.

In a branch of Sainsbury’s, one shopper was pelted with a tub of double cream by a woman for not wearing a mask.

The supermarket said it will display posters and make regular loudspeaker announcements asking customers to wear a mask, but it was not the responsibility of staff to challenge them.

But branches of McDonald’s ordered customers without face coverings to leave the restaurants.

Police chiefs across the country said their officers would not be routinely enforcing the regulations and they would only be sent out ‘as a last resort’

John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said: ‘Police officers are yet again adapting to a new set of unprecedented laws and guidelines which they wouldn’t have even dreamed of before lockdown.

‘It is our members who are expected to police what is a new way of living and I would urge retail outlets to play their part in making the rules crystal clear: if you are not wearing a face covering then you are not coming in.’

But care minister Helen Whately called for a softly-softly approach and pointed out that some people, including those with autism and conditions like anxiety, are exempt from wearing them.

She predicted that ‘most people’ would wear a mask voluntarily, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We are expecting people to be reasonable about this. And we don’t want to see members of the public accosted for not wearing a face mask.’

Some retailers have raised concerns that asking shop staff to enforce the measures will lead to further abuse against them.

Jo Whitfield, from the Co-op, said: ‘On a daily basis they face abuse, threatening behaviour and even physical assault. Our own figures show that during the Covid crisis such instances have risen and enforcing the wearing of face masks could be another flashpoint that shop workers don’t need.’

Make them pretty and colour co-ordinated, says Sam Cam 

By Claudia Joseph for the Daily Mail

She has graced the top ten of Tatler’s Best Dressed list, is a clothes designer of note and also an ambassador for the British Fashion Council.

Now Samantha Cameron, who launched her label Cefinn three years ago, has created a face mask for a care worker charity – and recommends making them ‘pretty and colour coordinated’.

Samantha Cameron has created a face mask for a care worker charity

Speaking on the day that masks became mandatory, she said: ‘In these difficult times, a pretty face mask can be a little more uplifting to see when you are out and about. Sometimes you want or need to be a bit more colour coordinated.’

Mrs Cameron, 49, designed a £25 mask to match her cobalt Leopard Pansy print dresses after being approached by her former special adviser Isabel Spearman, who writes a newsletter The Daily Dress Edit. She is one of five designers who created coordinating masks and dresses for the Match Your Mask campaign, raising money for The Intensive Care Society, the only organisation in the UK to support overstretched intensive care workers.

Mrs Cameron posted a photograph of herself on Instagram, left, in Cefinn’s £390 Silk Pussy-Bow Midi Dress and matching mask. The design is now sold out and she is considering whether to create another.

She said: ‘As it is now compulsory to wear a face mask in stores and on public transport, many people will want to stay safe and use masks that are stylish and sustainable.’

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