Urgent funding boost for childcare sectors is needed as costs rise £2000 a year since 2010
New analysis published by the Trades Union Congress on Monday reveal that the cost of childcare for children under two has drastically increased by more than £2000 (£185 per month )in the last decade since the Conservatives took office.
Parents saw an average annual nursery bill for a child under two of £4,992 in 2010. But the shocking increase in the ten years since has seen that rise to just over £7,000 – signaling an increase of 44 per cent. This increase now puts the United Kingdom second in the world for highest childcare costs among leading economies, according to the OECD.
The TUC has warned that parents are facing a classic “Catch-22”. As the rate of statutory maternity pay puts pressure on mums to return to work, leaving them with exorbitant childcare fees.
All the while as childcare costs have continued to shoot up, maternity pay has fallen in value – worth £151.97 a week in 2021/22 – a £5 per week real terms fall since 2010/11.
With this dire situation, the TUC has called for an urgent cash boots for the childcare sector to give early years staff better wages, and a long term settlement to bring down the cost of childcare and make it affordable and accessible for families.
Purnima Tanuku OBE, Chief Executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said: “We absolutely agree that the Government must give the childcare sector an urgent funding boost to reduce the burden on both parents and providers.
“For years we have been warning of the spiralling costs of childcare and Government underfunding of their funded childcare places is a significant factor. As the largest customer, the Government must pay the actual cost of delivering high quality early years education and care, not keep giving providers a shortfall. This leaves nurseries struggling to make ends meet and parents picking up that shortfall.
“We know parents are really grappling with the rapidly rising costs of living especially energy and food bills – this is also true for providers who are also facing increasing wage bills and business rates.
“We need to see urgent support to the early years sector with funding that meets the cost of providing the high quality care and education that all our children need and deserve.”
Read the press release here
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