Latest news with #freechildcare
The Guardian
14-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Labour's free childcare policy doesn't go far enough
Polly Toynbee is right to praise the government's investment in our children's future by promoting free breakfast clubs and extra nursery places (To those who question what Labour stands for – look at Best Start. It will change Britain's future, 8 July). However, as regards the free childcare for preschool children of 30 hours a week from September, what is rarely discussed is that the 30 hours are termtime only. Most nurseries are open all year round. Few working parents have the luxury of working only in termtime, and it actually equates to free childcare of around 22 hours per week all year round. This just about covers the cost of working three, not four, full working days. So please can people be honest about what is being SmartMalvern, Worcestershire In response to Polly Toynbee's excellent article on the government's plans to bring back Sure Start, rebranded as Best Start Family Hubs, there has been no mention of the numerous small charity projects round the country, such as the one we have in our town, which have tried to keep its legacy alive. The council and community groups came together to take the transition grant offered when our children's centre closed, and kept some of its essential core services going. Will there be funding for small community-based hubs such as ours so that families can access support in their own neighbourhoods? I do hope CaveFaringdon, Oxfordshire So Polly Toynbee thinks that Labour has always put children first. Except, that is, for the thousands of children massacred, injured, starved and orphaned in Gaza. About them, Labour couldn't care McLeishEdinburgh Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
Bloomberg
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Can Zohran Mamdani Give New York City Families Free Child Care?
New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's victory in the Democratic primary this week has brought his unapologetically ambitious plan one giant step closer to fruition: for the city to become the first in the US with universal child care. The 33-year-old from Queens has pledged to make child care free for kids between the ages of 6 weeks and 5 years old, a drastic expansion from the current patchwork system of publicly funded 3-K and Pre-K that caters to about 100,000 children who turn three and four each year. He also wants to raise wages for workers in the industry.
BBC News
02-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
How can working parents get 15 and 30 hours of free childcare?
Eligible working parents of children from nine months old can now apply for 30 hours of free childcare a week in England from September. The government hopes the scheme will get more parents back to work, but there are serious concerns about the number of staff and places childcare arrangements vary in other parts of the UK. How expensive is UK childcare? The average cost of full-time nursery (50 hours a week) for a child under two in England is £12,425 in 2025. That's a fall of 22% from 2024, according to the Coram Family and Childcare charity, as the government funded hours scheme is the most expensive place in Great Britain for under-twos, at £15, cost of a full-time place for three and four-year-olds went up in all three nations. How does free childcare in England work? In England, all three and-four year olds are eligible for 15 hours of government funded childcare, regardless of their parents working status. Other help is also available, but this depends on the age of your child and whether you are working or receiving certain parents can get:15 hours of childcare paid for by the government for children aged between nine months and 23 months old (increasing to 30 hours in September30 hours of childcare paid for by the government for three and four-year-oldsTo qualify for the new hours, the majority of parents must earn more than £9,518, but less than £100,000 per on certain benefits can get:15 hours of free childcare for two-year-oldsIf you do not work, you might still be eligible for 30 hours of free childcare if your partner works, or you receive some benefits (for example maternity or paternity leave).UK government: Childcare choicesUK government: Childcare calculator How do you apply for 15 or 30 hours of free childcare? Parents can apply for 15 hours of childcare from when their child is 23 weeks old, and for 30 hours once their child is two years and 36 weeks entitlement starts at the beginning of the term after your child reaches the qualifying government website has details of the deadlines to apply for each age childcare hours are designed to be used over 38 weeks of the year - during school term some providers will stretch them over 52 weeks if you use fewer hours per week. What is not covered by the free childcare hours? The government is increasing the hourly rate it pays childcare providers offering free in many cases, this rate does not cover the full cost of the childcare. So, some providers charge for extras like meals, nappies, sun cream or to research from the Pregnant Then Screwed charity, almost a quarter (23%) of parents it surveyed said they couldn't afford to access free childcare hours because of top-up February, the Department for Education (DfE) wrote to nurseries saying parents should be able to opt out of paying for these extras, "to ensure no family is priced out".However, some providers say they use these payments to subsidise the cost of the free hours for three and four-year-olds. More than 5,000 nurseries have signed an open letter to the DfE asking for the new rules to be delayed. Are there enough childcare places? The DfE says an additional 35,000 staff and 70,000 places will be required to meet demand by September education regulator Ofsted has warned that access to childcare in England has declined since 2020 and improvements have not been evenly spread across the average, so-called "childcare deserts" have lower household incomes and higher levels of deprivation than other government offered a cash incentive of £600 to those who become childminders (or £1,200 for those joining via an agency) which ended in March. Childcare staffing rose by 6% across 2024 as a whole, however the number of childminders - those providing early years care in homes - has continued to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics shows the total population of zero to five-year-olds fell by 1% per year from 2018 to 2022, the number of childcare places increased by 44,400 between 2023 and 2024, according to DfE figures. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said early years had been her "priority from day one". However, nursery bosses argue the government's updated funding rates for 2025 will not offset rising Early Years Alliance charity said about 185 nurseries of 1,100 it surveyed said they were "likely" to withdraw from the scheme within the next 12 months "due to unsustainable financial pressures".In April, the government announced the first 300 school-based nurseries, which it says will provide 4,000 extra places by September 2025. What childcare help is available in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland? All three and four-year-olds and some two-year-olds in Scotland are entitled to 30 hours a week of funded childcare during term time (or 22 hours a week if used across the year), regardless of their parents' working parents in Wales can get 30 hours of childcare for three and four-year-olds, and the government says it is expanding support for Northern Ireland Childcare Subsidy Scheme (NICSS) provides a 15% discount on childcare to qualifying working parents with pre-school-age children. The scheme will be extended to include primary school-age children from September. How does tax-free childcare work? Parents may be entitled to other support, including the UK-wide tax-free childcare every £8 you pay into an online childcare account, the government adds £2 (up to £2,000 per child per year, or £4,000 for disabled children).You can use the money to pay for approved childcare, for example:Childminders, nurseries and nanniesAfter-school clubs and play schemesYour childcare provider must be signed up to the who qualify for free childcare hours can save in the tax-free scheme as much is child benefit worth and who can claim it?
The Independent
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Expansion of free childcare rolls out today – here's who is eligible
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.
The Independent
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Labour's childcare drive will let women have more children, education minister says
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.
