A new hybrid model is quietly rewriting the rules of work and motherhood - and it's closer than you think.
There's a moment most working mums know well. You're on a Zoom call, the nursery rings, the wifi drops, and somewhere in the background a toddler is dismantling the living room. You're in neither world properly - not fully professional, not fully present as a parent. Just endlessly, exhaustingly in-between.
That feeling isn't a personal failing. It's a structural one. And a growing number of entrepreneurs around the world are deciding it's time to build something better.
The numbers are damning
Five years after the birth of their first child, mothers' monthly earnings are on average 42% lower than in the year before birth - a figure confirmed by the Office for National Statistics. Across five years, that amounts to a total average loss of £65,618, worsening with each additional child.
The causes aren't mysterious. Fewer than one in five new mothers return to full-time work after maternity leave, and 40% have turned down a promotion because of childcare pressures. The Fawcett Society estimates that nearly 250,000 working mothers in Britain have left their jobs entirely, with childcare pressures forcing them to choose between a demotion or leaving the workforce altogether.
This isn't a niche problem. It's a national one. And the traditional system - rigid nursery hours, eye-watering costs, no flexibility for freelancers or remote workers - was not built for the way we work now.
A new kind of space
Step inside My Little Boardroom in Wokingham and something feels different. On one side, ergonomic desks, fast wifi, and private call pods. On the other, a fully staffed, Ofsted-registered early years space where qualified educators follow EYFS-aligned learning with a staff-to-child ratio of 1:4 or better. Between the two? A window. A lunchtime pop-in. The knowledge that your child is metres away.
Co-founded by Maria Misyurina and Heather Sandberg - both mums who experienced the juggle firsthand - My Little Boardroom has just joined Nuuri, and it's bringing with it a concept that is quietly gaining momentum around the world.
"We didn't build a nursery with wifi bolted on, and we didn't build a coworking space that happens to tolerate children. We built something deliberately designed for both - because we knew from our own lives that the compromise parents are being asked to make every single day just isn't good enough."
This model is already working elsewhere
The UK may be early to this, but globally the idea has been quietly proving itself for over a decade.
Third Door in London pioneered the concept in 2010 as the UK's first coworking space with an on-site nursery, allowing parents to purchase bundles of childcare hours and use them flexibly.
In Berlin, juggleHUB was born from two working mums' vision to "juggle" career and family under one roof, offering community-centric workspace alongside on-site childcare. In Australia, BubbaDesk - inspired by founder Lauren Perrett's experience returning to work after her first child - now operates six locations, offering experienced carers, quiet workspaces, and peace of mind for new parents.
In the US, Haven launched in Newport in 2019 and has since expanded to multiple locations, now franchising across the country, offering a fully integrated daycare, fitness, and coworking space. Some founders describe their offering as "close-proximity care" - allowing parents to remain nearby, engage with their children during the day, and encourage connection rather than separation.
Italy has among the highest concentrations of this kind of hybrid space in the world, with thriving examples in Milan, Florence, and Rome. Even in Switzerland, where conservative social norms have historically pushed mothers towards staying home, demand has been high. One mum-in-residence told researchers that "Switzerland is highly conservative and expects mothers to stay home - there is woefully little public investment in childcare facilities and private creches are exorbitant for average families." The hybrid model offered a third way.
Why the UK is ready - and why it's hard
Childcare costs in the UK are among the highest in the developed world, forcing many mothers to reduce their hours or leave the workforce entirely. For some families, nursery fees can rival or even exceed mortgage payments.
And yet, only around 2% of coworking spaces globally offer any form of childcare. The reasons are real: regulatory hurdles, Ofsted registration, qualified staffing, the challenge of sustaining two revenue streams that both fluctuate seasonally. As one founder noted, "both coworking and childcare are models where revenues are not secure - they fluctuate during holiday times and as children grow, turnover can be quite high."
My Little Boardroom has navigated all of this. They hold an Ofsted registration (URN 2875551), operate fully EYFS-aligned care from 8am to 5pm, and offer flexible pricing that includes ad-hoc sessions from as little as two hours - a model almost unheard of in traditional nursery provision.
"We knew the barriers were real. The regulations, the ratios, the insurance, the staffing - none of it is simple. But we also knew that the alternative - doing nothing, leaving mothers to keep hacking together nurseries and laptops and guilt - wasn't acceptable. If the system isn't built for you, you build a new one."
Is it right for UK parents?
The honest answer is: it depends on what you need. For freelancers, founders, remote workers, and anyone whose working day doesn't fit neatly into a 9-to-5 school run - this model has something genuinely new to offer.
Internationally, even in countries with strong government-supported childcare programmes, parents are actively choosing hybrid spaces because of what they offer beyond just care: community, flexibility, proximity, and the ability to be a professional and a parent without either role being a liability to the other.
Research published through the US think tank New America at the end of 2025 found that these hybrid spaces - almost all initiated by mothers of young children - proliferated in the wake of the pandemic's disruption of the boundaries between work and care. They aren't a trend. They're a response to a structural failure.
"The women who come here aren't here because they can't manage. They're here because they're ambitious, capable, and they refuse to accept that having a child means putting their career on hold. This space is for them."
What it means for Nuuri
My Little Boardroom's decision to join Nuuri signals something important: that the conversation about how we support working parents - particularly working mothers - is evolving beyond policy papers and LinkedIn posts.
The question isn't really whether a childcare-coworking hybrid can work in the UK. Third Door proved it could in 2010. The real question is: why has it taken this long to scale?
With My Little Boardroom based in Wokingham and now operating within the Nuuri network, there's a real opportunity to make this model visible, fundable, and replicable - not just as a business, but as a piece of infrastructure that working mums in this country have been quietly asking for for years.
About Nuuri
Nuuri is the UK's leading nursery search and enrolment platform, created to make finding and managing childcare simple, transparent, and stress-free. Founded by Steven Clarke - a dad who experienced first-hand the challenges of searching for childcare - Nuuri's mission is to modernise the entire nursery search and enrolment process for the next generation of parents and providers. The platform connects parents with trusted nurseries across the country, helping families make confident choices about early education, while giving nurseries powerful digital tools to reach new families, reduce admin, and showcase their settings online. Nuuri's vision is to become the go-to destination for childcare discovery and enrolment in the UK - doing for nursery search what Rightmove did for property and Skyscanner did for flights.
Discover nurseries, compare costs, and access funding guidance at nuuri.co.uk
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Frequently Asked Questions
A childcare coworking space is a purpose-built facility that combines a professional workspace for parents with a registered childcare or nursery setting under the same roof. Rather than dropping your child at a separate nursery and commuting to an office or working from home, parents can work productively metres away from their child - with the ability to pop in during the day, breastfeed if needed, or simply enjoy the peace of mind that comes from proximity. It is not a nursery with a desk in the corner, and it is not a coworking space that tolerates children. It is a deliberately designed hybrid built for both.
Yes, though they remain rare. Third Door in London was the UK's first, opening in 2010. My Little Boardroom in Wokingham is one of the newest and most fully realised examples, offering Ofsted-registered early years care alongside a professional coworking environment with dedicated desks, private call pods, and meeting rooms. Globally the model is far more established - with examples across Germany, Australia, the US, Italy, and Switzerland - and the UK is beginning to catch up.
Costs vary by provider. At My Little Boardroom, a full day (8am - 5pm) combines childcare at £90 with workspace access at £45, totalling £135 per day. Ad-hoc sessions are available from a minimum of two hours, with childcare at £20 per hour and workspace at £5 per hour. Importantly, government-funded hours can be applied to reduce costs significantly - with funded hours and Tax-Free Childcare, the real daily outlay can drop to around £60. You can use Nuuri's childcare cost calculator to estimate your costs and funding eligibility.
Yes - provided the childcare provider holds Ofsted registration, government-funded hours can be applied in the same way as at a traditional nursery. My Little Boardroom holds Ofsted registration (URN 2875551) and accepts funded hours for eligible children. This makes the model significantly more affordable than it might first appear. For guidance on funded hours, Tax-Free Childcare, and other government support schemes, visit the Nuuri advice hub.
A standard nursery focuses solely on childcare, typically with fixed session times and no provision for the working parent beyond a drop-off and collection point. A childcare coworking space like My Little Boardroom adds a fully equipped professional workspace, so parents can work on-site rather than commuting elsewhere. This means greater flexibility, proximity to your child throughout the day, and a working environment specifically designed around the realities of modern parenthood - rather than one that simply accommodates it as an afterthought.