The Countryside Living Index, compiled by NFU Mutual, has found that rural families are paying increasingly more for childcare than their urban counterparts.
It reveals that average prices for weekly care of an infant is 6.3 per cent more in rural areas than in towns (£202 versus £190 per week).
This imbalance is put down to supply and demand, with rural families having few available nurseries within their local area.
Nearly a third of rural parents have just one nursery or crèche in their local area and one quarter of them have none available within easy reach of their home. As a result, a quarter of parents living in the countryside say they pay a premium due to lack of choice.
“The lack of affordable, accessible child care in the countryside,” says NFU Mutual rural affairs specialist Tim Price, “combined with sparse employment opportunities, is making it it’s even harder for families to get by when they have young children.”
“With new mortgage rules meaning such expenses need to be factored into mortgage applications, this is another economic issue that young families living in the countryside face.”
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