Alliance comments on new parent survey on childcare affordability
The Early Years Alliance on has commented on conducted by Mumsnet, Pregnant then Screwed and other organisations, which found that:
- 96% of working parents feel that ministers are not doing enough to support parents with the cost and availability of childcare.
- 97% believe that childcare in the UK is too expensive.
Commenting, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said:
鈥淲e know that the cost of care and early education is a huge burden for many families across the country - but the harsh reality is that without adequate government funding, costs are likely to continue to rise.
鈥淔or years, funding rates for the so-called 'free childcare' offers have fallen short of the cost of delivering places, leaving nurseries, pre-schools and childminders with two choices: increase fees to plug the gap, or risk going out of business completely.
鈥淕iven that the government's own policy documents describe fully funding the early years sector as 'unaffordable' and predict that inadequate funding rates will lead to rising costs for parents, it's hard to imagine that these survey findings will come as any surprise to anyone in government, despite all the talk of 'record investment' into the sector.
鈥淏oth parents and providers have been expected to put up with far too much for far too long. If the government is genuinely committed to providing affordable, quality care and education to children and families, it needs to ensure that our sector has the funding we need to actually deliver it.鈥