Fixing free childcare would be an easy win for Labour

Parents of young children should be happy: since September 2024, those with an income of less than £100,000 a year have been eligible for 15 hours of free childcare a week once their child is nine months old. From September this year, that will increase to 30 hours a week. 

However, once again, it seems that the government has promised the moon but in realiy only paid for a small asteroid. Nurseries claim that the scheme is financially unsustainable because the funding was set before significant rises in their costs as a result of Rachel Reeves’ budget. Increases to national insurance payments and the minimum wage mean that the sector will now be paying 11 per cent more in wages and staffing costs from April, or about £2,000-2,500 per staff member. 

To provide safe, quality care, nurseries need a high ratio of staff to children, but this funding shortfall means that 60 per cent of nurseries now plan to limit the number of places they will offer under the government scheme.