JEREMY Hunt today hailed major childcare reforms in the Spring Budget as the “biggest transformation” to the sector in a lifetime.
The Chancellor said offering 30 hours free care to kids aged over 9 months is “the right thing to do for many women”.
1
And he vowed the change would encourage thousands of parents, particularly mums, to rejoin the work force.
Mr Hunt told Sky News: “It is the right thing to do because we have one of the most expensive childcare systems in the world.
“We know it is something that is a huge worry, for women in particular, that they have this cliff-edge when maternity leave ends after nine months, no help until the child turns three and that can often be career ending.
“So I think it is the right thing to do for many women, to introduce these reforms and we are introducing them as quickly as we can because we want to remove those barriers to work.”
Most read in News
At yesterday’s Spring Budget the Chancellor confirmed parents of anyone over nine months will get 30 hours of free childcare a week in future – for the first time ever – as long as both parents are working 16 hours a week.
But the policy will kickstart in phases.
Working parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare from next April, in 2024.
And that will be extended to all children from nine months old after September 2024.
One million more parents will be eligible for help.
By September 2025, every single working parent of under fives will have access to 30 hours free childcare per week.
Today Mr Hunt faced criticism for the two-year wait before the policy comes into full force.
But the Chancellor defended the timing, telling Sky News it will take time to build up the early years workforce so there is capacity to cater for millions more children.
“It is a huge change,” he said.
“And we are going to need thousands more nurseries, thousands more schools offering provision they don’t currently offer and thousands more childminders.
“We are going as fast as we can to get the supply in the market to expand.”
To tempt workers to the sector, the Treasury hiked the hourly rate paid by the Government to childcare providers, who have long said that the help they get doesn’t actually cover their costs.
And workers who sign up to become a childminder are in for a £600 bonus or £1,200 for those who join an agency.
Meanwhile, and £400 million is being dished out to local councils for breakfast and after-school clubs to encourage people to stay in work too.
“This is a fully worked out plan and is a huge investment,” Mr Hunt told the BBC this morning.
“I think it’s the biggest expansion of childcare in my lifetime.
Most read in The Sun
“We recognise that if you’re making as ambitious a change as this, it’s going to take time.
“That’s why we need to bring it in in stages, starting with parents of three-year-olds, then two-year-olds, then 9-month-olds.
