Childcare policy should deliver for parents, not GDP figures or the political establishment

Apr 27, 2024 by Jill

by Miriam Cates MP, Conservative Home:

What is childcare policy for?

That is the important and timely question posed by think tank Civitas in a new report. Over recent years, childcare has become something of a political arms race in the UK, with all parties competing to offer more ‘free hours’ of daycare to parents.

Last year, the Chancellor announced a massive expansion to the current scheme, extending eligibility for 30 hours a week of funded childcare to babies of working parents from just nine months old. State spending on the Early Years is now scheduled to reach £9 billion per year, yet there is a lack of clarity around what childcare policy is trying to achieve.

In Back to Basics: What is childcare policy for?, a new report, authors Ellen Pasternack and George Cook propose three possible ‘purposes’ for subsidised childcare and assess the effectiveness of current policy against each one.

Read here

Watch: Miriam Cates on GB News