"Ridiculous" nursery fees are forcing women to quit their jobs and become stay-at-home mums - because childcare costs more than their monthly salary.

Mothers reveal they have quit their jobs to stay at home with kids because of childcare costs.

Nursery fees in the UK are already some of the highest in the world - and are set to rise even further this year.

A survey last month by the Early Years Alliance revealed almost nine in 10 early years providers are likely to increase their fees in 2023.

Mothers are already quitting their jobs to stay at home with children - because childcare costs more than their wages.

One mother, Jasmine Allmond, found herself in a similar situation after learning it would cost £1,500 a month to have her four-year-old in nursery for the hours she would have worked.

Jasmine, 32, worked full-time in childcare herself - and still found the costs of putting her own daughter in it too high to justify.

Working full-time as a teaching assistant in a school, she was taking home around £900 per month.

The mum-of-two and her postman husband Chris, 38, access universal credit but say they still couldn't make ends meet.

Jasmine, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, quit her job in July 2022 and is now a full-time stay-at-home mum.

She will remain that way until her daughter starts school - because working was "not worth it".

She feels she was put in a "catch-22" situation - being looked down on for not working, but unable to afford to work.

The mum-of-two, whose other daughter is 14, believes it is "pretty impossible" to have young children and both parents working in one household.

She described the situation as "unfair" - and feels she was made to choose between her career and being a mum.

Jasmine said: "As much as I love having kids, it does feel like you have to put your life on hold when you do."

Being a stay-at-home mum means Jasmine feels she has "no outlet from home life" and "no reason to leave the house" any more.

She revealed as a result, her mental health has suffered too - and feels the responsibility is down to the government.

She said: "Without the government upping funding to support nurseries, there is no way of fixing this situation.

"As parents, we're just trying to figure out where money is going to come from - and we aren't alone.

"I get asked 'why did you have kids if you can't afford them?' - but at the time we could.

"I love being a mum, but I feel like I'm losing out."