Sarah’s entire monthly salary went on paying for nursery fees for her son when he was young and yet it still wasn’t enough to cover the costs in full — the rest had to come out of her husband’s wages. Now her child is at school her childcare costs have come down, but she says more needs to be done to support mothers returning to the workforce.

“It seems that only the wealthiest people — those who can easily afford childcare — are able to have more than one child and go back to work full-time,” the England-based healthcare worker in her forties told the Financial Times.

It seems she is far from alone in this view. A global survey of FT readers heard from many parents around the world about the difficulties of juggling career and childcare. The survey, carried out in the first half of September, gathered more than 100 responses from people on how to improve childcare provision.