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Queen's Speech 2015: Free childcare access to double | Queen's Speech 2015: Free childcare access to double |
(about 1 hour later) | |
Access to free childcare for three-and-four-year-olds in England is to double to 30 hours a week under measures announced in the Queen's Speech. | Access to free childcare for three-and-four-year-olds in England is to double to 30 hours a week under measures announced in the Queen's Speech. |
If passed, the childcare bill will grant the entitlement to families where all parents are working. | If passed, the childcare bill will grant the entitlement to families where all parents are working. |
The changes aim to help 600,000 children a year from 2017. | |
However, nursery providers say the existing scheme is underfunded with the budget for free childcare falling 20% short of the cost of provision. | |
Neil Leitch, of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said: "As a result, many are being forced to increase the cost of paid-for hours [those hours above and beyond the free entitlement], resulting in higher childcare costs for parents." | |
The group represents the owners of 14,000 childcare groups across England. | |
The plans had been outlined in the Conservatives' election manifesto and Mr Cameron said at the time that its £350m-a-year cost would be funded through reductions in tax relief on pension contributions. | |
Currently, all three-and-four-year-olds in England are entitled to 570 hours a year of free early education or childcare at nurseries, play and pre-school groups, Sure Start children's centres, or with childminders. Two-year-olds from the poorest families also qualify. | |
The 570 hours equate to 15 hours a week over a 38-week school year but can be spread over the year. | |
Mr Cameron had said this was an improvement on the "shocking" situation the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition inherited in 2010, "where couples were spending as much on childcare as one of them took home in earnings". | Mr Cameron had said this was an improvement on the "shocking" situation the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition inherited in 2010, "where couples were spending as much on childcare as one of them took home in earnings". |
Previously "for many second earners, work didn't pay because the cost of childcare was so high", he had said. | Previously "for many second earners, work didn't pay because the cost of childcare was so high", he had said. |
Childcare funding around the UK | |
The measures announced in the Queen's Speech only apply to England because responsibility for childcare is devolved to national governments. | |
The Scottish government offers all three and four-year-olds 600 hours of funded nursery provision per year, while all those in Wales are entitled to 10 hours per week in term time. | |
In Northern Ireland, pre-school education is funded for two-and-a-half hours a day, five days a week during term-time. | |
New legislation will require councils to publish information about childcare in their area, and other services available that may benefit local families. | |
In the run-up to the election, Labour had proposed a "guarantee of access" to childcare between 08:00 and 18:00 for primary age children, while the Liberal Democrats had criticised the Conservative plans for "ignoring working families with the youngest children". | In the run-up to the election, Labour had proposed a "guarantee of access" to childcare between 08:00 and 18:00 for primary age children, while the Liberal Democrats had criticised the Conservative plans for "ignoring working families with the youngest children". |
In February, a Lords committee highlighted the problem of underfunding in the sector, saying nurseries were struggling to survive in areas where parents could not afford extra hours. | |
It called on the next government to ensure that free places were delivered without any extra costs to parents. | |
Department for Education figures showed the average cost of providing free childcare places was £4.47 an hour, while the government paid £4.51 an hour for each three-and-four year old on the scheme. |
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