Labour pledges to extend 30-hours to all children aged two- to four-years-old
By Rachel Lawler
The Labour Party has promised to extend the 30-hours childcare offer to all children aged between two- and four-years-old in England if it wins the next election.
The party also plans to spend £1 billion reversing “Conservatives’ cuts of Sure Start” and open 1,000 new children’s centres in England.
£5,000 a year pledge
The party estimates that its extended childcare offer will save parents of two-year-old children, who are not currently eligible for funded childcare, more than £5,000 a year.
Labour plans to spend £4.5 billion on its childcare offer, in a bid to make “high-quality education available to all, whatever their income”.
Graduate-led workforce
The party has also revealed plans to “transition to a qualified, graduate-led workforce” in the early years sector and “improve the pay and skills levels of childcare workers”.
The party’s plans also include a ‘national pay scale’ to increase pay for the early years workforce.
Struggling parents
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, commented: “The Conservatives are failing a whole generation of children. Labour will deliver the real change Britain needs.
“Parents are struggling to afford the childcare support they need, while many children are going hungry and growing up homeless.
“Labour will open a Sure Start centre in every community and fund 30 hours’ free childcare for all two- to four-year-olds to unlock the potential of every child.”
Angela Rayner, shadow education secretary at Labour, added: “Labour will make high-quality early years education and access to Sure Start Plus a right for all families, in a country for the many, not the few.”
Sector concerns
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, commented: “This is a positive policy for the thousands of parents struggling to afford childcare – but the lack of detail on how it will be funded will strike fear into the hearts of many providers.
“We currently have a funding shortfall in the early years of two thirds of a billion pounds. That shortfall, which has led to thousands of provider closures, is a direct result of an ongoing electoral arms race between political parties to entice parents with ‘free childcare’ without thinking through how it will be paid for. It has meant that very few parents receive truly ‘free’ childcare and has ultimately pushed up prices for non-funded hours.
“This is an already unsustainable situation and so the last thing we want is more of the same: any new policy like this needs to come with a firm commitment to sort out the current funding mess first.”
Effective interventions
The Alliance has also welcomed the pledge for fresh investment into Sure Start centres. Neil added: “No one is saying that these children’s centres are a silver bullet for tackling the complex problems that go hand-in-hand with poverty. However, they remain amongst the most effective interventions we have seen in helping parents and children that would otherwise be hard to reach and any policy that supports them is a step in the right direction.”