Working parents in the North aren't getting the support they need to cope with the pressures of today's 24-7 society, according to two reports out today.

Researchers found that while more people were working longer and longer hours to meet the needs of the modern workplace, childcare services were not expanding to meet their needs.

Two studies carried out for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that few childminders or nurseries took children before 7am, after 7pm or at the weekends, causing problems for parents working long hours.

Self-employed parents were among the worst-hit, with nearly 60pc of self-employed fathers working more than the EU limit of 48 hours a week and many working weekends.

Kevin Rowan, general secretary of the TUC, yesterday called for more investment in the region's childcare infrastructure, which he said would benefit workers, employers and the regional economy as a whole - and urged employers to introduce schemes for staff to work flexible hours to enable them to balance work and childcare responsibilities.

Mother-of-three Jo Price teamed up with friend Margaret Higgens to start up Gosforth Park After Schools Club - now Newcastle's biggest after-school club - after quitting her job as a doctor to spend more time with her children.

She agreed finding childcare was a problem for parents working long hours, but said extending childcare facilities to cover early mornings, late nights and weekends would not be in the interests of children or be financially viable for childminders.

She said: "For us to find staff to cover those hours would be an impossibility and it would be very difficult to break even. Even though I make my living as a childminder, I don't think it would be good for children to be spending more and more time in childcare instead of with their parents."

Mrs Price, who has never regretted her decision to leave medicine, said the solution was for parents to be empowered to work fewer and more flexible hours to enable them to spend more time with their children.

Her comments were backed by Ann Mooney, co-author of the report, who said: "We need policies for atypical hours childcare services, but we also need to consider how employment policies and working hours should be made more `family friendly'."

The Journal: Today's Voice of the North