For Tara Newbold, the costs of holiday childcare for her two sons are so high that she cannot afford to work full-time.
"It's not worth going to work," she says. "I would be paying to work."
It comes as new research by charity Coram shows holiday childcare costs have risen by 5% in the past year.
The government says it has spent more than £4bn in each of the past five years to support families with childcare costs.
Ms Newbold, from Nottingham, works part-time on Mondays to Wednesdays as a sales administrator and so needs holiday childcare on those days.
She says she cannot work full-time because the cost of full-time holiday care is so excessive that she would be paying to work.
