'I work all week and am left with £30. No wonder people stay at home on benefits'

Chloe Douglas is trying to do the right thing. She works full-time, provides for her children, and refuses to rely solely on the state. But at the end of an exhausting week, she has barely anything to show for it.

A typical day starts with the 27-year-old single mum waking her three-year-old twins, Rosie and Riley, getting them dressed, making breakfast, and rushing out the door for nursery. Unable to afford a car and saving for driving lessons, Chloe walks the twins to Kindergarden Kids in Whitstable, Kent.

She then heads back home, grabs her bike, and sets off on a 40-minute cycle to her warehouse job. She works from 9.30am until 3.30pm, before cycling back, walking the 15 minutes to nursery and home again, cooking dinner, and getting the children to bed “hopefully by 7pm”.

Chloe works 30 hours a week at £13 an hour but says the numbers simply do not add up. To be able to work those hours, she must place both children in nursery full-time, Monday to Friday. At the end of a gruelling week, she is often left with just £30 once childcare costs are paid.

“I’m going to work for nothing,” she says. “Which, I don't mind doing, because I enjoy the job - that's absolutely fine, and hopefully there's room to progress - but the financial burden of it is just ridiculous.”

When she fell pregnant in 2022, the first-time mum was not expecting twins. While she says she “loves them to bits” and “would not change them for the world”, having two children the same age has brought double the costs, with little extra support. She was shocked to discover that there is no additional financial help with nursery fees for parents of twins.

Thanks to the 30 hours of free, government-funded childcare, most of the twins’ hours are covered, but Chloe still has to pay about £150 a month per child.

“I'm sacrificing these lovely years with my children just to pay for their nursery costs,” she said. “When it's the double cost of everything, it's a bit overwhelming.

“It makes it feel like what's the point in it all? It’s no wonder so many people probably stay at home and stay on the benefits because it doesn't work out that differently.”

At the moment, Chloe takes home about £1,510 a month. Meanwhile, non-working parents can claim up to £1,835 a month in benefits, including Universal Credit and housing allowance. But Chloe said: “I've always said I want to be working - I don't want to stay at home on benefits.

“As much as I love being with the kids, working makes me feel like I'm progressing to do something to make their lives better, make our lives better.”

Saving up for driving lessons and eventually passing the test is an important goal for Chloe. But she said: “I just try to sit there and work out where I'm going to get this extra money from, and it seems impossible. It's kind of the realisation of just feeling a bit stuck at the moment financially and not being able to better our lives.”

Chloe has some financial support from the twins’ dad, who pays £50 a week. “I'm the sole provider of the house and money-wise, and it just seems like I'm in this massive loop,” she said. “The financial burden of it is weighing quite heavily in the sense that I'm working literally to pay my nursery bill.”

She added: “I don’t know if something can be done to put some financial help in place or just some recognition of the matter. I’m not asking for special treatment, I’m asking for fair treatment that reflects the real cost of childcare.”

The benefits system is complex - but Chloe could get extra support by claiming Universal Credit while still working. This would be in addition to the 30 hours of free childcare she already receives. While the system usually works by refunding nursery costs after they are paid, new rules introduced in 2023 mean she could get government help to cover the first upfront bill too.

The Department for Work and Pensions redirected questions about Chloe’s case to the Department for Education. In response, a Government spokesperson highlighted the removal of the two-child childcare costs cap in the Autumn Budget. But as a mum of twins, this does not affect Chloe.

The spokesperson added: “We are committed to ensuring working families can access the childcare support they need.”

As of September 2025, all eligible working parents of children aged under five in England can claim 30 hours of free childcare. Just a few years ago, this could not be claimed until children were three.