An increasing number of mothers are working from home to tackle the increasing costs of childcare, new research has revealed.

According to a survey of 700 mothers with children under the age of 10 by the insurance company Direct Line, nearly two thirds (65 per cent) claimed that they would consider running a business from their own home to make the family unit better off. Dubbed 'mumpreneurs', the shift to give up the office job to instead work from home comes in response to rising childcare costs that mean it is no longer feasible to leave children in the care of other people.

Recent figures have suggested that the cost of putting two children through full-time childcare for a year is £11,700. The expense negated the financial benefits of working an office job, according to the mothers questioned; almost half (49 per cent) said they believed they would be better off financially to start a business from home and save on childcare fees.

The website findababysitter.com has stated that the cost of childcare went up by 19 per cent in the 12 months to December 2013, with the cost of hiring a nanny witnessing the steepest rise at 25 per cent – rising from an average of £6.59 an hour to £8.75 an hour.

Taking on freelance work that enables the mothers to remain at home with their young children, or starting their own business out of the home have been cited as popular alternatives to tackle the problem.