Labour is today [Monday] warning the cost of childcare is so high
that those parents are having to cut down the hours they work.
New Labour analysis shows the average family now spends nearly
£1,500 more on a nursery place than five years ago.
Forty per cent of parents responding to a recent survey by
Pregnant then Screwed said that they have to work fewer hours due
to childcare costs, which rises to more than half of parents in
households with incomes of below £50,000.
For primary school children, the cost of afterschool clubs has
risen nearly 20 per cent over five years. With average parents
spending more on after school clubs than on their weekly food
shop.
A decade of Conservative governments has forced the closure of
1,300 children’s centres cutting off support for families, while
the government has admitted to knowingly underfunding childcare
providers which is pushing up costs for parents.
Labour’s Children’s Recovery Plan would mean children could go to
breakfast clubs and after school activities for free, boosting
children’s social development and wellbeing post-pandemic, and
support working parents.
The Chancellor’s spring statement failed to give families the
security they need as prices spiral and the Conservatives’ cost
of living crisis is hitting household budgets.
, Labour’s Shadow
Education Secretary, said:
“The Conservatives are making high quality childcare increasingly
unavailable and unaffordable. Parents are having to work fewer
hours or leave jobs because they cannot find or afford it, once
again failing children and families.
“Labour’s Children’s Recovery Plan would invest in early years
places for children on free school meals and boost access to
before and after school clubs, as families fight rising prices.
“The Chancellor has failed to give families security. Labour
would halt the national insurance rise and use a one off windfall
tax on oil and gas companies to cut household’s bills by up to
£600 and put families first.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
- The annual cost of a full time nursery place for a child
under 2 has increased by almost £1,500 over the last 5 years.
£37.38 multiplied across an average 38 week school year is
£1,420.44
|
Nursery place
|
2018 (£)
|
2022 (£)
|
Change (£)
|
% Change
|
|
Under two
|
236.19
|
273.57
|
37.38
|
16%
|
|
Two
|
231.75
|
265.38
|
33.63
|
15%
|
Source:
Coram Family and Childcare Annual Survey 2018 / 2022
- 40% of parents said they have had to work fewer hours than
they would like because of childcare costs (Pregnant then
Screwed)
- The cost of afterschool clubs for primary school age children
has increased nearly 20% over 5 years
|
2018 (£)
|
2022 (£)
|
Change (£)
|
% Change
|
|
66.75
|
56.82
|
9.93
|
17%
|
Source: Coram
Family and Childcare Annual Survey 2018 / 2022
- Labour’s Children’s Recovery
Plan would more than triple pupil premium investment in
children on free school meals in early years settings and deliver
free breakfast and afterschool clubs.
