The crippling cost of childcare is holding women back and plunging families into poverty, the TUC has warned.

Delegates backed a resolution from TUC Women’s Conference on Tuesday demanding that politicians act to provide affordable and accessible childcare for all.

NUT delegate Amanda Martin told congress that she and her husband worked long hours and had to fork out £9,000 a year to have their three boys, aged 12, 10 and seven, looked after in the evenings.

Ms Martin’s mother not only provided care for her grandchildren but also looked after her own mum — all while having to keep working to make ends meet since the pension age has risen.

“Childcare costs are spiralling out of control and it mainly affects women,” said Ms Martin.

“We are not a society of lazy women — we are a society of strong women, proud women who despite low wages and high childcare costs continue to fight.”

The UCU’s Vicky Knight pointed out that childcare costs had risen 30 per cent since the Con-Dems took power — a similar scale to the hammering felt by workers’ real-terms income.

“Childcare is chronically underpaid, undervalued and understaffed,” she said.

“Yet look at a country like Cuba, where universal childcare is free at the point of use.

“The contribution this makes to women’s social and economic mobility is stark — 48 per cent of Cuban MPs are women, 52 per cent of doctors are women, 62 per cent of lawyers are women.”