PARENTS and carers of children aged over nine months will be eligible for 15 hours of free childcare per week as of Monday, the government announced today.
This will be in addition to 15 hours available to two-year-olds, and 30 hours offered to working parents of children aged between three and four, as rolled out under the Tories in April.
The scheme is due to be further expanded next year, with the Department for Education pledging to fund 30 hours of free childcare a week for most working parents of children between nine months and school age by September 2025.
The government says that over 85,000 more places will be needed to deliver the rollout — over double the increase in places seen in the last five years.
When quizzed on LBC on whether the commitments will be honoured, Education Minister Jacqui Smith replied that Labour will work “enormously hard.”
She said that Labour had inherited the pledge from the Tories “but no plan to actually deliver.
“We’ve boosted up the recruitment campaign, Do Something Big to get more workforce into early years education,” she said.
“We’re encouraging people to take up early years apprenticeships, and the new qualifications in early years.
“It’s why we’re working alongside local government and providers to make sure that they’re able to offer parents those places.”
Labour has said it will aim to meet the targets by converting empty or under-used classrooms into school-based nurseries.
Welcoming the scheme, Parentkind chief executive Jason Elsom said: “Parents tell us that childcare costs are a major concern, and they support action to bring costs down and help families at that crucial time between the end of maternity leave and previous financial support kicking in.
“It is right we do everything we can to support parents, particularly when children are young.”
Access to childcare has been deemed a key factor in closing the gender pay gap, with many women ending up in part-time jobs, often on lower pay, or leaving the workforce entirely, to manage caregiving responsibilities.
Research by the TUC found that women are five times more likely than men to be out of work because of caring responsibilities, increasing to 6.5 times for black and ethnic minority women.
