Nearly a quarter of working mums 24%] say they are less likely to seek promotion as a result of Covid, according to a [workingmums.co.uk survey.

There have been big concerns about the potential impact of Covid, particularly the unequal sharing of caring responsibilities, on women's careers.

The survey of 1,300 working mums shows that just 24% of mums said their mental health hadn't deteriorated due to Covid.

While the biggest cause of mental health problems was anxiety about the lockdown, including isolation from family, and about Covid generally, with 70% saying this had affected their mental wellbeing, 61% of mums said homeschooling and childcare had had a big impact.

Other factors included:

- worries about children's well being and security [30% mentioned this]
- job insecurity [25%]
- financial concerns [27%].

Just 19% said their employer had helped them with their mental health, compared to 50% who said they didn't help.

Gillian Nissim, founder of WM People, the umbrella company for workingmums.co.uk, workingdads.co.uk and workingwise.co.uk, said: "It is worrying to note how Covid may have affected women's career aspirations. This is something that employers need to monitor and take into account. The best provide employee networks, such as women's networks or parenting networks, where individuals can connect, support each other and feed their concerns and ideas for how to address them back to employers."

*For more information and case studies, contact Mandy Garner or Benedetta Doro on mandy.garner@workingmums.co.uk and benedetta.doro@wmpeople.co.uk or ring 07789 106435.