30 hours for 1.5 year olds and over expected tomorroe

[QforCucumber]

As per the attached! This would help people so much

They have increased the quota I believe

I just saw this too and am absolutely buzzing!

It's finally going to make full time working financially worthwhile.

For all or some?

There is barely enough childcare as it is so although this is good, it isn't going to be easy!

I assume it'll have the same rules as 3 year olds funding

Where do you think the extra staff will come from?

I’ll only be ‘buzzing’ if they make up the shortfall for the nurseries who already struggle with the 30 free hours for three year olds. This could finish some childcare providers unless they agree to meet the deficit it will leave in nursery budgets.

Good news and will help so many families but such a shame this won't apply to NI we have no free hours for any age and no childcare support here at all except the tax free childcare 20percent scheme

the article i read earlier today said budget was unlikely to offer further childcare support to those not on universal credit... so the above would be a pretty massive policy shift.

in theory fantastic...in reality I don't see how there is the nursery resourcing to facilitate this

Very fair and valid point

The same article says they are going to reduce the ratios for 2 year olds. Something most parents are against and nurseries says will make little difference to their costs.

It’s only any good if properly funded. The current amount given for 3-4 year olds doesn’t come close to covering the actual costs. If we want high quality provision we need to pay settings enough to provide that.

Very good point @Skinnermarink

where we are a full 10 hour day is around £57, as far as I know that’s a similar rate to the hourly one offered for these hours.

it would very much let us consider a 3rd child, whereas atm - after 2 years of ft fees we are dead set against the idea

Ah @Marchforward that wasn’t updated at the time I read it and it didn’t say anything about ratios

Currently its only the paying 1 and 2 year olds keeping nurseries afloat, it would need to be properly funded for nurseries to actually be able to offer it.

I've been struggling along until my child reaches 3! Glad they are sorting it for those after me though but bit worried as I always thought the under 3s who pay in full subsidise the rest.

Yeah that's my concern

I don’t want to pay less for my childcare, absolutely not if it means the nurseries won’t stay afloat. But I can’t pay more- I’d be in a situation where I can’t afford to work. The government need to subsidise, like other European countries do, before offering anything else that will adversely affect childcare providers.

You know what, even if they offered 15 hours a week then I'd be happy! Will they be taking tax free childcare off us too? This is assuming this will apply to anyone. If it's those on benefits then it makes no difference to me at all!

Agreed @NP0606 Also - where are all the staff coming from? There is a national crisis when it comes to early years recruitment.

I echo what others have said about the feasibility of this and affordability for nurseries and childminders.

I would also be wary about making decisions about having another child based on it as future governments could easily reverse any changes!

Great news, but absolutely gutted to have scrimped and saved for the past few years on full time nursery fees to have just missed out!

We really are being poorly treated in NI regarding childcare.

Presumably this won’t be available if one parent earns over £100k, as is the case for Tax Free Childcare and 30 hours now

I agree with this. It needs a complete overhaul, not just patching up. Where I live in the EU nursery fee is 3% of the households income, but with a maximum amount of roughly £120/month for full time. We do have higher taxes though, but at least the tax money is used well.