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| London mayor race: single parent charity calls for childcare support | London mayor race: single parent charity calls for childcare support |
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| The cost of childcare forms a large part of the vast London poverty picture, yet too often goes unseen. Everyone speaks up for the London Living Wage. Affordable housing enjoys star billing in the capital’s political debate. But the financial strains and human dilemmas tied up with the price of a nursery place or paying a childminder’s fee command far less attention than they should. | The cost of childcare forms a large part of the vast London poverty picture, yet too often goes unseen. Everyone speaks up for the London Living Wage. Affordable housing enjoys star billing in the capital’s political debate. But the financial strains and human dilemmas tied up with the price of a nursery place or paying a childminder’s fee command far less attention than they should. |
| The single parent charity Gingerbread is trying to put that right with a new report on how London’s childcare economics make it harder for, in particular, young women with pre-school age children to hold down jobs and a suggestion for how the next mayor could help. | The single parent charity Gingerbread is trying to put that right with a new report on how London’s childcare economics make it harder for, in particular, young women with pre-school age children to hold down jobs and a suggestion for how the next mayor could help. |
| Gingerbread proposes that the mayor gets the Greater London Authority (GLA) to pay “the deposits nurseries and childminders typically require” because these upfront costs can deter single parents from getting into work or oblige them to borrow from family members, friends or lenders in order to meet them. | Gingerbread proposes that the mayor gets the Greater London Authority (GLA) to pay “the deposits nurseries and childminders typically require” because these upfront costs can deter single parents from getting into work or oblige them to borrow from family members, friends or lenders in order to meet them. |
| It’s a proposal aimed at a specific element of what Gingerbread calls “the affordability challenge” facing single parents in London, where childcare costs are much higher than in the rest of the country and around half the children in the city’s 320,000 single parent families are defined as living in poverty. | It’s a proposal aimed at a specific element of what Gingerbread calls “the affordability challenge” facing single parents in London, where childcare costs are much higher than in the rest of the country and around half the children in the city’s 320,000 single parent families are defined as living in poverty. |
| A nursery place for a child under the age of two devours on average about half of what remains of a single parent’s income after she - it’s usually a “she” - or he has met her or his housing costs, according to Gingerbread’s analysis of Department for Work and Pensions data. | A nursery place for a child under the age of two devours on average about half of what remains of a single parent’s income after she - it’s usually a “she” - or he has met her or his housing costs, according to Gingerbread’s analysis of Department for Work and Pensions data. |
| Employment rates among single parents as a whole have risen faster in London than in the rest of the UK over the past five years and now almost match the national figure of 63%, but this masks the lack of progress among parents of children of pre-school age, of whom only 49% are in work. | Employment rates among single parents as a whole have risen faster in London than in the rest of the UK over the past five years and now almost match the national figure of 63%, but this masks the lack of progress among parents of children of pre-school age, of whom only 49% are in work. |
| Childcare costs also contribute to many single parents working fewer hours than they would like to. Gingerbread calculates that in 2015 one in six London single parents was “under-employed” in that sense. They produce some individual case studies to make the point. Mila from Enfield told them: | Childcare costs also contribute to many single parents working fewer hours than they would like to. Gingerbread calculates that in 2015 one in six London single parents was “under-employed” in that sense. They produce some individual case studies to make the point. Mila from Enfield told them: |
| If I want to go back to work full time I would I have to pay nursery costs, and for me it’s too expensive. It would cost me £1,580 per month, so I only paid for two days per week and will only be returning to work part-time. Even then I have had to borrow money from my family for childcare, as it still costs me £700 per month. | If I want to go back to work full time I would I have to pay nursery costs, and for me it’s too expensive. It would cost me £1,580 per month, so I only paid for two days per week and will only be returning to work part-time. Even then I have had to borrow money from my family for childcare, as it still costs me £700 per month. |
| Then there’s Ife from Southwark: | Then there’s Ife from Southwark: |
| So I’ve scaled back my hours to 20 hours per week because I know what the financial implications of having to work 9-5 mean in terms of childcare...I also know that come the six-week school summer holidays I’m going to have to give up my job because I will not be able to afford the childcare costs. | So I’ve scaled back my hours to 20 hours per week because I know what the financial implications of having to work 9-5 mean in terms of childcare...I also know that come the six-week school summer holidays I’m going to have to give up my job because I will not be able to afford the childcare costs. |
| Gingerbread sets such stories in the context of what it terms “the complex childcare funding puzzle,” which includes gains resulting from recent government investment in childcare, such as a universal entitlement to 15 hours of early years education for three and four year olds snd some disadvantaged two year olds, counteracted by the tightening of eligibility criteria for 30 hours of childcare provision which, Gingerbread says, will cause 4,500 single parents in London to lose out. | Gingerbread sets such stories in the context of what it terms “the complex childcare funding puzzle,” which includes gains resulting from recent government investment in childcare, such as a universal entitlement to 15 hours of early years education for three and four year olds snd some disadvantaged two year olds, counteracted by the tightening of eligibility criteria for 30 hours of childcare provision which, Gingerbread says, will cause 4,500 single parents in London to lose out. |
| “High childcare costs in London outstrip the support available through the tax and benefits system,” the report says. “There are now nine London local authorities where the average cost of part-time childcare for a child under two exceeds the maximum support available through tax credits, the value of which has not been revised in over a decade.” | “High childcare costs in London outstrip the support available through the tax and benefits system,” the report says. “There are now nine London local authorities where the average cost of part-time childcare for a child under two exceeds the maximum support available through tax credits, the value of which has not been revised in over a decade.” |
| Some candidates for City Hall have, to their credit, recognised and addressed the childcare issue. Liberal Democrat Caroline Pidgeon, the mother of a two year-old son and formerly Southwark Council’s cabinet member for children and young people, he has first hand knowledge of the problems of finding the right type of childcare arrangement. “The hours available from most childcare providers don’t allow you to work the hours you need,” she said, interviewed here. She has produced her own report on London’s childcare challenge. Pidgeon is also seeking re-election to the London Assembly. | |
| The manifesto of Labour’s Sadiq Khan, who has said he would be “a proud feminist in City Hall,” contains a promise (in the “business, prosperity and opportunity” section) to “make childcare more affordable and accessible with a strategy that delivers for business and workers, including key worker status for childcare workers and campaigning for business rate relief for childcare providers.” In a speech in January he said he would establish a commission to report on childcare across the capital, saying that it is “a matter of both social justice and economic failure” that its high costs limit the ability of many women to re-enter the workforce. | The manifesto of Labour’s Sadiq Khan, who has said he would be “a proud feminist in City Hall,” contains a promise (in the “business, prosperity and opportunity” section) to “make childcare more affordable and accessible with a strategy that delivers for business and workers, including key worker status for childcare workers and campaigning for business rate relief for childcare providers.” In a speech in January he said he would establish a commission to report on childcare across the capital, saying that it is “a matter of both social justice and economic failure” that its high costs limit the ability of many women to re-enter the workforce. |
| Sophie Walker, candidate of the Women’s Equality Party, identifies what she calls “maternal unemployment” as a major issue for London, underlining childcare costs as a major part of this and arguing for a shift in the capital’s employment culture to allow more flexible and part-time working, allowing Londoners to more easily reconcile working and parenting. She argues that the exclusion of women from the labour market deprives the capital’s economy of their skills and would aim to make affordable childcare available for all children from nine months, including by helping boroughs make a better job of fulfilling their duties under the Childcare Act (2006) as part of a broader strategy to combat poverty. | Sophie Walker, candidate of the Women’s Equality Party, identifies what she calls “maternal unemployment” as a major issue for London, underlining childcare costs as a major part of this and arguing for a shift in the capital’s employment culture to allow more flexible and part-time working, allowing Londoners to more easily reconcile working and parenting. She argues that the exclusion of women from the labour market deprives the capital’s economy of their skills and would aim to make affordable childcare available for all children from nine months, including by helping boroughs make a better job of fulfilling their duties under the Childcare Act (2006) as part of a broader strategy to combat poverty. |
| I will update this article with any further thoughts from mayoral candidates. Read Gingerbread’s Upfront report here. | I will update this article with any further thoughts from mayoral candidates. Read Gingerbread’s Upfront report here. |