PARENTS are now shelling out £133 a week per child on average for childcare during the school holidays, a report has found.

Holiday childcare costs have risen by four per cent in just a year, according to the Family and Childcare Trust’s annual survey - leaving parents with expensive bills.

The findings, which come as children across the country break up for the six-week school summer holidays, show that across Britain, parents now pay an average of £133.34 a week for full-time holiday childcare for one child - equivalent to around £800 for the entire summer break.

In England alone, the figure is £134.66, while in Scotland and Wales it is around £10 cheaper at £124.44 and £124.85 respectively.

Overall, the report notes, holiday childcare costs are nearly two-and-a-half times as much per week as an after-school club.

“For parents and carers, finding childcare during the holidays can be particularly challenging,” the report says.

“The price is normally significantly higher than term-time childcare, which can throw off carefully managed budgets.

“There are also substantial gaps in availability, meaning many parents will find it difficult to find childcare that covers their working patterns and suits their children’s needs.

“Where holiday childcare is unavailable or too expensive, parents are left with few options,” the report adds.

“Many cannot call on family and friends to provide all the informal childcare they need, and will not have enough annual leave to cover the long break, and some struggle to stay in work.”

The report is based on surveys of local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland.

Last year, Blackburn with Darwen Council supported the charity Kingdom Outreach to help struggling families by providing free packed lunches to children over the summer holidays.

And the project is set to run again this summer in a bid to tackle ‘holiday hunger’ and plug the gap for families during school holidays who normally receive free school lunches during term time.

Last year it saw up to 50 volunteers making around 5,000 sandwiches each week to cater for the 1,080 children whose families signed up for the six-week long school holiday period.

The council distributed the lunches through children’s centres and provided free activity sessions to accompany the lunch box collections, from story time to road safety awareness.

Ellen Broome, chief executive at the Family and Childcare Trust, said: “Now is the time to urgently address childcare policy for school age children. For too many families, the long summer holiday is a time of stress and expense as they try to patch together a solution despite the gaps in availability and financial support.”

Children and families minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “This Government is doing more than any before to support parents with the cost of childcare.

“We are investing record amounts - around £6 billion a year by 2020 - to make sure as many children as possible have access to high-quality care.

“We are also looking at the most effective ways to support parents with wrap around care for older children, which includes £26 million to kick-start and improve breakfast clubs in at least 1,700 schools and £2 million to fund free enrichment activities and healthy food to disadvantaged children during the summer holidays.”