Stephen Morgan MP has backed plans to reform the broken childcare system after new analysis found that the cost of childcare was drastically more expensive now than before the Conservatives introduced free hours of childcare.
Mr Morgan made the comments following a speech by his colleague Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Education Secretary, who this week said that Labour will not continue to throw taxpayers’ money at the Conservatives’ broken, “jerry-built” system of free hours, which has seen struggling providers given less money by government than the Department for Education says it costs to deliver them.
Labour’s analysis of official data from the Department of Education found that the average cost of an hour of childcare for a two-year-old is now 14% higher than in 2018, shortly after the Conservatives first unveiled the 30 free hours policy.
It means that the cost of funding 30 hours of childcare for under twos now costs parents £800 more since the Conservatives introduced its system of free childcare hours, in 2017.
Labour has said that failure to support providers is driving up prices for parents as nurseries and childminders seek to recoup losses with higher prices for paid-for childcare hours to stay afloat, though this has meant many have been forced to close altogether.
Labour’s analysis also shows that more than 15,000 (19%) providers have now ceased trading since free hours were introduced, while more than 5,000 had closed this year alone leading to less availability and higher costs. Labour’s own research shows that there are now more than 2 children for every childcare place in England.
The party has cited further new analysis of data produced by the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies which has outlined the scale of financial losses to providers in each English region due to government underfunding of childcare hours.
Labour unveiled its plans to offer breakfast clubs for every primary school child in England at its party conference last year, as well as plans to allow more councils to open new maintained nurseries.
The Member of Parliament for Portsmouth South, Stephen Morgan MP, said:
“I know from constituents in Portsmouth that childcare is a major cause of concern to families during the cost-of-living crisis.
“Our analysis shows that the cost of funding 30 hours of childcare for under twos now costs parents £800 more than it did in 2017.
“That’s why Labour is increasing its focus on developing a modern childcare system to support families from the end of parental leave through to the end of primary school”.
Bridget Phillipson MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary said:
“The childcare model the Conservatives have built fails everyone, denying parents the ability to work the jobs they’d like, to give their children the opportunities they’d like, and is not of the quality that staff want to provide.
“In the Britain the Conservatives will leave behind, tweaking the system we have will not deliver the ambition or scale of reform we are going to need.
“Labour’s missions must be central to breaking down the barriers to opportunity in this country. To breakdown those barriers, our Mission commits to reforming the childcare system: that will be my first priority.”
