Childcare bills in the North-East have reached record levels, according to a survey set to be published tomorrow.

Although the region has below average fees, the cost of a nursery place for a child under two is now £112 -- a rise of 8.7 per cent from last year.

Nationally, the figure is £128 a week, or more than £6,650 a year, up 6.7% in the last year. The survey, carried out by childcare charity, the Daycare Trust, showed the typical cost of a full-time place with a childminder for a child under two was £108 a week, while an after-school club was £38 for 15 hours a week -- four pounds more than the national average.

Stephen Burke, director of Daycare Trust, said: "British parents face the highest childcare bills in Europe.

''Parents need more financial help towards childcare costs to enable them to work and to give their children a good start in life."

The charity is calling on ministers and employers to provide more help for parents towards the cost of childcare.

With only one childcare place for every seven children under eight and growing numbers of women with young children in the workplace, demand for childcare outstrips supply and is pushing up prices.

Durham County Council's Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership says it needs to create 600 places throughout the county in the next couple of years.

The trust says working families on lower incomes who receive help from the childcare tax credit scheme still have to find at least 30% of the cost of childcare.

Meanwhile, the "vast majority of workless families get no help at all, according to the charity. Karen Clarke, a single mother from Chester-le-Street, works full-time as a shop assistant while her three-year-old son Jack goes to nursery.

"To be honest, it's barely worth me going to work because nearly all the money gets taken up by the cost of nursery.

"Because I'm a single mum, I get £35 a week towards the cost but I still have to pay £55 myself and it makes a huge hole in my budget.

"I suppose I'm quite lucky because my mam picks Jack up from nursery, otherwise I would have to pay for a childminder and I just couldn't afford it."