March 8th, this week, was International Women’s Day; the Spring budget is due on 15th March. What a wonderful opportunity for the Government to sort out the mess that childcare has become under almost 13 years of Tories in power. Thank goodness they seem to be rowing back from relaxing maximum child/carer ratios, which could have left children under-stimulated and even at risk, and carers overworked and stressed.
However recent statements seem to suggest that it is too expensive to increase free childcare to one- and two-year-olds, and we know that the existing “free hours” scheme is underfunded, so that childcare providers have to absorb the extra costs, while workers are amongst the lowest paid in the country.
We have the second highest childcare costs in the developed world, twice as expensive as in France. The Government wants to expand the number of people going back into work, and yet childcare costs are prohibitive for many families. Even when a child starts school, the wrap-round costs (costs at the beginning and end of the school day) can make it not worth working for many people.
Meanwhile statutory paternity leave and pay in the UK is lower than the minimum wage, and amongst the lowest in Europe. So it’s hardly surprising that many just can’t afford to take their due leave, even though we know that many men would love to spend more time supporting their partners after the birth and getting to know their children better, because the number of full-time stay-at-home dads in the UK has leapt by a third since before the pandemic, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Green Party policy (we are the only party to have all our policies online – viewable at policy.greenparty.org.uk) is for each parent to have one month of post-natal leave immediately after the birth or adoption of a child, and a further 22 months of paid leave which can be shared between both parents. These benefits would be paid at 90% of pay levels and recovered from taxation for small firms.
For parents wanting to return to work, we would make nurseries and early years education free, with establishments small enough to provide community units with continuity and consistency of staff for all children and to provide a safe and secure environment with access to the outdoors.
The early years and childcare system in England is broken. In its current form, it does not work for parents, for children or for childcare providers. So, we are calling for a budget announcement that gives parents the support they need to exercise the choice to stay at home for the vital first months or to return to the workplace if that’s what they want.
Proper childcare and parental leave would be a lovely belated International Women’s Day present in the budget.
Cllr. Jill Perry
Published in Local Newspapers 9.3.23