A NEW study has exposed just how severely women are being financially punished for having children.

Research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published today has found that women’s monthly earnings plummet by an average of 42 per cent five years after the birth of a first child compared with wages one year before.

Women lost an average of £65,618 over five years following the birth of a first child, the data found, while an extra £26,317 was lost on average after the birth of a second child and £32,456 following the birth of a third child.

Employment also falls, with mothers up to 15 per cent less likely to be in paid work 18 months after childbirth.

Rachel Grocott of campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed said: “This new data confirms what mothers have known for decades: the moment you have children, your pay nosedives.

“It is completely abhorrent. And the more children you have, the deeper the drop. It’s not a gentle decline — it’s a financial freefall resulting in financial loss of over £100,000 for a mother of three children.

“If men experienced this kind of penalty for becoming parents, we’d have fixed it years ago.

“We need urgent reform: childcare that doesn’t bankrupt you, parental leave that makes sense and workplaces that stop treating motherhood like a liability and instead flex their roles to help mothers to navigate the infamous juggle and start to tackle the motherhood penalty once and for all.”

Research by the Work Foundation at Lancaster University found that women were more likely than men to accept insecure jobs in lieu of flexibility to accommodate their caring role. It found that 28 per cent of women were in severely insecure work in 2023, twice as many as men.

Alice Martin, head of research at the think tank, said: “The government has pledged positive steps, from making flexible working the default to stronger protections for pregnant women and day-one paternity rights.

“But with childcare funding for children aged nine months-plus only just rolling out and nurseries in some areas struggling to accommodate demand, there’s still a long way to go before mothers are on an equal footing.”

A government spokesperson said: “As part of the Employment Rights Bill we will require employers to publish action plans alongside their figures, detailing the steps they are taking to narrow their gaps. These are likely to include actions to support parents and the careers of mothers.”