Made redundant.
Pregnant. Determined.

A vulnerability no maternity plan could prepare me for.

When I was made redundant while pregnant with my second child, I experienced a kind of vulnerability that no career or maternity plan could have prepared me for. I already had a young toddler at home, and suddenly the stability of my professional life — something I'd worked hard to build — was gone.

Once my baby arrived, I was forced to prematurely start the search to return to work. Job-hunting with two children under two — a 2-year-old on summer holidays and a 3-month-old in tow — meant juggling interviews around feeds, naps and tantrums, with no reliable support network in place. Every step forward met another barrier: no flexible childcare for interviews or retraining, and few places I could work productively while still being close to my children.

It became painfully clear I couldn't be the only one.

Across the UK, mothers lose an average of £65,618 in earnings during the five years following the birth of their first child, as their monthly income falls by around 42% compared to the year before birth. Even years later, those who return to work earn on average £302 a week less than fathers — roughly a third lower income.

Behind those numbers are millions of personal sacrifices — reduced hours, stalled careers, or complete exits from the workforce. Around a quarter of a million mothers of children aged four or under have left paid employment altogether because childcare was unavailable or unaffordable. The Centre for Progressive Policy estimates that improving access to childcare could unlock £7.6–£10.9 billion in additional earnings every year.

Manchester mirrors these national trends. The city's 2024 Childcare Sufficiency Assessment shows the number of children entitled to funded two-year-old places has fallen by 16% since 2022, while providers have increased fees by an average of 9%. For parents already stretched thin, the gap between what's needed and what's available keeps widening.

These statistics aren't abstract — they're lived experience. They represent people like me: ambitious, capable parents who want to contribute, but are constrained by systems that assume childcare is someone else's problem.

Work to Play is a response to that. By combining a welcoming co-working café with safe, flexible, on-site childcare, we create an environment where parents can focus, connect, and rebuild their professional confidence while their children learn and play nearby.