Labour's childcare drive will let women have more children, education minister says

Independent

12-05-2025

The government's expansion of free childcare will empower women to have larger families, according to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.
Starting Monday, working parents of children aged nine months and older can apply for up to 30 hours of free childcare per week starting from 1 September, continuing until their child reaches school age.
Ms Phillipson highlighted the scheme's potential to provide working mothers with greater flexibility in balancing their careers and family lives.
She said: "They will be able to make choices about the career that's right for them, the hours that they want, but also [have] the freedom to think about family size and how many children they want to have, with support from the Government around childcare hours."
The initiative, originally introduced by the previous Conservative government, represents a significant investment in childcare support and is expected to facilitate a "generational shift" for working women, according to the education secretary.
The expanded access to free childcare aims to alleviate financial burdens and offer greater freedom in career and family planning.
The expansion of funded childcare began being rolled out in England in April last year for working parents of two-year-olds.
Working parents of children older than nine months are currently able to access 15 hours of funded childcare a week, before the full rollout of 30 hours a week to all eligible families in September.
The Labour Government announced up to to 4,000 childcare places are set to be rolled out at new or expanded school-based nurseries in England from September.
Ms Phillipson said she had been 'flat out to make sure we've got as many places available as possible'.
The Department for Education (DfE) has approved the first round of funding for 300 school-based nursery projects across England.
Each successful school, which were able to apply for up to £150,000, will receive the amount of funding they bid for to repurpose or extend existing spaces and deliver childcare provision.
The first 300 school-based nurseries will offer an average of 20 places per site and up to 6,000 new places in total, with up to 4,000 set to be available by the end of September, the DfE said.
It comes after schools were able to bid for a share of £15 million funding in October to deliver up to 300 new or expanded nurseries across England.
Labour said in its manifesto that it would open an additional 3,000 nurseries through 'upgrading space' in primary schools.
Jason Elsom, chief executive of Parentkind, said: 'Parents often struggle with finding good quality childcare, and many will welcome this investment, especially as parents with more than one child may be saved from the mad dash from nursery to school in the morning and afternoon.'
The announcement comes as Labour is under increased pressure to scrap the tory era two-child benefit cap policy. This prevents parents from claiming universal credit or tax credit for their third or more child. Charities have warned it could bring child poverty to record high by 2029.