Consequences of virus far reaching

Childcare provision, including nurseries, childminders and holiday schemes, is vital to economic recovery, so mothers can go back to work, said the TUC.

The union organisation called for an emergency government bailout for the sector, similar to the financial help given to transport networks.

At least one in four nurseries may struggle to reopen after the lockdown ends, while others could cut their hours or have fewer places because of ongoing social distancing, said the TUC.

The TUC warned that if the childcare they have relied on suddenly becomes unavailable, many mothers could lose their jobs or pay, as they struggle to balance work and care.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Our childcare sector is on the brink of collapse, and it’s putting women’s jobs on the line. If childcare places disappear, women will be pushed out of the workforce.

“Women workers are bearing the brunt of this crisis, both on the frontline and at home.

“Mums have picked up the majority of childcare while nurseries and schools have been closed, and many have had to sacrifice work hours and pay to do so.

“The Government can’t stand by while mums are forced out of their jobs. Childcare is necessary if we are going to work our way out of this economic crisis and stop the misery of mass unemployment. If we’re all in this together, nurseries desperately need Government cash to stay open.”

Decades of progress women have made in the labour market could be reversed, and the gender pay gap could increase unless action is taken, said the TUC.

Meanwhile, more than one million more people could be plunged into poverty by the end of the year because of the Covid-19 crisis, a new report is warning.

The number of children in poverty could jump by 200,000, taking the total to 4.5 million, according to an analysis by the IPPR think tank.

Urgent action is needed to protect families from the financial hardship caused by the pandemic, said the report.

Those newly forced to rely on Universal Credit will experience a major hit to their living standards, which will be particularly damaging for households with high rents as a proportion of their incomes, or with debts and low levels of savings, said the IPPR.

Even for many parents with jobs, returning to work is difficult or impossible while schools and childcare are only taking selected pupils, and are open irregular hours, it was warned.

IPPR called on the Government to include measures to support children and families as part of its planned economic stimulus package this summer.

Clare McNeil of the IPPR said: “This analysis shows that hundreds of thousands of families and their children who may have been ‘just about managing’ before Covid now face being plunged into poverty.

“The Government must apply the same level of ambition it had for supporting businesses and workers in the early stages of this crisis, to prevent a new generation of children and their families falling into poverty through no fault of their own.

“The Chancellor must include in this summer’s stimulus a package of measures to support families alongside funding for physical infrastructure and job creation.

“This should include removing the Universal Credit austerity measures, supporting family and carer incomes and investing in childcare to open up more options for parents to return to work.”

And in another report, fewer than half of people working from home as a result of the Covid-19 crisis are keen to return to the office.

Many of those surveyed said they were expecting changes to their working environment when they return. Around half of the 2,000 employees questioned said they believed they would be back in their office in some capacity in the next few months.