THE Government wants mothers to return to work when their child is one year old.

Yet in figures released from Daycare Trust, the National Children's Charity the average cost for a full time nursery place for a child under two in England is £159 a week.

The average cost of a full-time nursery place for a child two or over in England is £149 per week.

You don't have to be a mathematician to subtract that amount of money from any salaries being paid for local job vacancies to realise that the average mother returning to work would be working full-time for very little reward.

Perhaps if ministers actually talked to mothers with young children and listened to their concerns, they just might come up with some common-sense policies.

Councillor David Pearson, St Michaels Court, Blackburn.