Does everyone think childcare should be paid for?

Not really 🤷‍♀️
And i still don't understand how people who don't work get so many hours free when their kids are two!

No, childcare is a known cost before the child is born and is a short term cost. I say that as someone who spent c.£40k on child care pre-school age and I still have wraparound care of approx £300 a month now and for next 5 or so years.

We share finances so it's never been a case of it coming out of my wages (although I'm now the breadwinner)- it comes out of the family pot

It benefits the child.

So what about kids who parents can't or won't provide enrichment stuff at home? Just leave them to have a poorer start in life?

Tbh, I'm more inclined to pay for that (and stuff like sure start centres) to try to break the cycle of poverty than for subsidies for MC parents (eg my DSis and her DH who both earn more than me). Though really I'm happy to contribute to both.

Other than the socialisation benefit, parents should provide that enrichment stuff at home. Toys and crafts aren't expensive, you can get them dirt cheap from the works, poundland etc. Affordable even on UC. So no excuse really

Not really
it’s not childcare ..it’s opportunity for the child to have access to paints and paper and toys and arts and crafts ..
im not wording that well ,as I’m not feeling well
but I know what I mean

I come from a country where childcare from about 30 months to 7 years is free and full time (think 8 am to 7 pm all year round) and then is being replaced with free schools and very cheap after school childcare (think 30 gbp/month). As a result, in my country I have never met a woman is my life who is a stay at home mother to children past 3 years old. Odd concept for me really. In England tax payers don't pay for childcare, but instead so many women end up claiming UC if their partner doesn't earn enough or in case of a divorce. Given a woman looses earning capacity for years if not forever if she stays out of employment for too long, taxpayer may end up subsidising her for a lot longer than a few years they could have done had they been subsidising childcare instead. My humble opinion of course..

I don't have children (and never will) but I think childcare should at least be completely tax free, the same as pensions. It benefits society if parents can work and free or low cost childcare benefits women particularly. I also think education and healthcare need to be better funded, as does social care. And there needs to be more social housing, particularly for families.

I'd pay for it by raising taxes for everyone not on PAYE. So increase corporation tax, dividend taxes, capital gains etc. People on PAYE get screwed over. I'd also add capital gains tax to primary residences to try to reduce growth in house prices until wage inflation makes buying a home affordable again.

It's worth noting that economic growth under successive Tory governments has been crap. Austerity (cutting spending on essential public services) doesn't work.

Not sure, but it does annoy me that unemployed parents get free childcare, very illogical.

Funding schemes do not work... the current one is causing childcare providers to run at a loss and many are closing or having to increase fees for unfunded care periods significantly.

In my view it would be better if Government made it simple. For every £1 spent on childcare, £1 came off the parents Income Tax/NI bill. There could be problems for those who did not work much though, as they may have childcare costs higher than the amount of Income Tax/NI paid but maybe that could be resolved by keeping a childcare element in Universal Credit and amending eligibility for UC so someone could theoretically claim just that childcare element if they did not qualify for anything else.

Having Government provide funded hours but only paying £4ish per hour does not work when it costs providers more than that to provide the care.

My dc are much too old for it to make a difference to me, but I’d be in favour of free childcare available for two children at any one time. Ideally alongside a massive investment and overhaul of the current system so that nursery workers are paid a decent wage and it is considered a worthwhile career. It might be expensive but there would be huge benefits to society, and that’s what our taxes are supposed to be for. Money would be saved on the benefits bill because the barrier to working would be removed and society’s attitude would change so that it was seen as a luxury to have a SAHP, as it should be.

As some others have said, it is not simply about “paying for other people’s childcare”. There are significant economic reasons for doing so. People currently are not being incentivised to have children. My childcare costs will be £2k per month for one child, and therefore we will only have one. Many of my friends will do the same, one or even none. When the true effects of an ageing population become clear, everyone will wish having children had been heavily incentivised.

@Cococomellon we don't qualify for free hours so swallow the nursery fees on my husband's salary. They're crippling. I have chronic health issues so this affects how much I can work and what we can claim (which turns out to be nothing). We end up leaning heavily on grandparents, god knows what we'd do without them. Imo the whole free 30 hours thing needs reviewing as it's skewed heavily in favour of low earners. The middle earners get screwed over.

I stayed home to look after mine as well
mine had disabilities and no childcare would take one of them.
turned out no school would either ,so I was at home a long long time with no support and not through choice…..other than the fact I chose to have children..
I’m possibly/ probably a bit bitter …

Child care should never be paid for by the government

I take your point but you wont be psying tax if you stay at home.

I was lucky enough to get almost free childcare as a working single parent in Lewisham in the early 80s. It enabled me to work then to go to university and get a degree. I never needed to claim benefits and after graduation was able to work, pay taxes and eventually buy my own home. I am eternally grateful for that chance.

No I don’t think it should be paid for, I’m a SAHM due to the cost of childcare and my DH work schedule, why should anybody subsidies my choice to have children! The money would have to come from somewhere, where? We don’t even have enough to pay NHS staff a decent wage.

Why would they?

Kindly you staying at home doesn’t benefit the wider population like a parent working, contributing to the economy does.

What …that’s not what’s being discussed

The accounts for the nursery we use for DD show a very, very healthy cash flow.

Staff aren’t paid well yet we pay £2500 a month. It’s definitely extortionate.

Exactly this.

It gives women choices. It levels the playing field for young people - which is why people who don't work or have low incomes get 15 free hours per week from when their children are 2.

Yes, we chose to have children. But then many people make choices that cost the taxpayer - eg an unhealthy lifestyle - that are funded.

What about women who want to look after their own children, like I did? Will the government pay me to stay at home?

In theory, child care being free makes sense. More workers is better for the economy.

in practice, cheap child care isn’t what I wanted when my child was young. I found her quality care and I paid for it. Yes, I was in a very privileged position to be able to afford that luxury. It wasn’t something we were willing to compromise about though. We had to manage our budget carefully during that time but that was our priority.

I would be incredibly skeptical of whatever free program was put in place. Every piece of evidence says that it would be done as cheaply as possible and that while basic safety would be met, that isn’t sufficient for young child development.

S@Alfiexx1 that's completely ignoring the changes in legislation requiring more staff and wayyyy more paperwork. It all costs. As do all their supplies.

Also if the Govt gets more involved in childcare provision, fewer people will be able to afford to be child carers & there will be a sever shortage.

I currently pay a fortune for childcare but a colleague from a country where it is free told me to be grateful because the care is very high quality here in comparison to his (wealthy EU) country, where the ratios of staff to children are poor. This basically stopped me whinging, and made me content to keep paying.
Being free could have an impact on quality.