To be disappointed that the free 30 hours for 1-2 year olds won't come in fully until Sept 2025?

[OhwhyOY]

Totally understand the rationale behind needing to delay it a bit to make sure there are sufficient nursery spaces available, to allow for increased government funding to filter through given how financially strapped many childcare providers are atm due to 3-4 year old underfunding, etc. But to delay it coming in for one and a half years feels pretty tough on those who desperately need that support now, and also seems daft when it will potentially offer such a massive economic boost that we also need now. Definitely at least partly selfish disappointment as I have a current two year old who won't benefit at all, but I'm thinking more about all those people who are not in work so the government's primary target, and will still need to be sat at home another year or two. Great long term news though, as long as childcare places are properly funded by the government to avoid a loss of even more nurseries/childminders.

Do you have a source for this? I'm trying to find the details

My DD would have got her 30 free hours in Sep-24 anyway as she turns 3 in the August, so I’m pretty gutted not going to lie! But I’ve seen lots of posts on here that the childcare sector isn’t ready for it so I think it would be unfair on them to start it immediately.

On the brightside we might be able to afford a 2nd now!

Delay it so the Tories have no chance of being in power and having to implement it. Empty promise.

Yup! The chances of this ever happening is minuscule.

What about the people who needed it years ago? There will always be people who miss out. It’s just the way these things work.

Childminders cannot offer more funded places. I'm thinking about declining funding and only taking private families. The waiting 13 weeks to be paid less than I charge is just too hard to maintain.

tgey need to relax ratios for childminders and assistants if they want affordability to increase.

Labour will likely be in power by Jan 2025 at the latest, and cannot be bound by the decisions of a previous parliament.

So who knows?

Indeed.

Something can be a good idea even if it doesn’t improve things for you.

My youngest is 2.5. I won’t benefit from
these changes. But people like me will benefit in the future, and that can only be a good thing.

I have a friend with a 14 month year who was starved of oxygen at birth, due to her child’s resulting disabilities she will never be able to return to work as her child will never be able to access suitable childcare.
My friend was earning £75k per annum, she now gets £69.70 per week carer’s allowance.

Be grateful for the help that you will be getting, carers like my friend get nothing.

I agree, the headlines were exciting and I dared to believe it would be implemented this year. But realistically it is a major change and the childcare sector is on its knees. My initial thought was how are the nurseries in my area going to cope? They are all full with waiting lists and wouldn't be able to offer places to those parents. It would have been manic as people tried to scrabble for places.

I have a 5 month old and a 2 and a half year old. So we will benefit from 15 hours from September 2024 but it is disappointing we will have to wait. But I'm one of the very lucky ones who has parents in law who do the majority of the childcare. But that extra few hundred pounds a month would have been amazing for us with how tight things are right now. I can't imagine the disappointment for those in full time childcare on what they could have had if children were born later, especially when everyone is struggling right now.

our 2nd turns 9 months in less that 2 weeks, he will become eligible for the 30 free hours just when the funding is expected to be fully implemented for all 9mo - 3yo. we can afford it but it's a stretch.

YANBU. I can understand the reasoning behind it but agree, it is disappointing for those who could have done with it sooner.

Gutted, it got our hopes up for nothing... again
I was looking for the catch but still hoping

There is not a chance this will happen. They don’t cover costs for 1:8 ratios for 3 year olds and nurseries are out of pocket so no way will they provide 1:3 for babies. They are just handing Labour a poisoned chalice so they look like the bad guys when it gets binned.

It’s a big, complex change. It’s good that they aren’t pretending they can rush it through for September.

I wouldn't build your life plans around it. Unless I stopped watching the budget too early and Hunt announced a colossal training programme for early year workers and made the career more desirable in some way, the policy is completely unworkable.

They offered a £600 grant for new Childminders! What more could we want?! 😂

anyone got a link to the details? I can’t find anything with these timescales!

While the idea is great, I don't believe the funding is going to make a big difference to the prices families pay - until now, the childcare sector has relied on the income from under 3 to pay for the free hours for the preschool years. Most of us who were eligible for 30 hours will be confirm that the fees decreased a bit each month but not significantly when paying for FT childcare.

Once this is implemented, almost all children attending will be eligible for funding which means the prices for the remaining 12 weeks (funding only for 38 weeks and most nurseries open for 50 weeks) will have to increase to cover their overheads and keep them open.

Maybe I am being pessimistic but I sadly don't think this is the answer we all wanted for struggling parents

The announcement was a massive gaslighting exercise. I was so angry that none of the journalists seemed to question the viability of the existing offer. It is absolutely not free provision for many people in this country who already can access it at 3. Unless the amount of government funding increases massively it just won’t logistically happen. Providers can’t afford the current rate for 3-4 year olds. There is no way they’d be able to do it for baby rooms unless the rate was very high as staffing the 3-1 ratio will always be costly. There is already a lot of faffing to avoid the accusations of ‘top-up’ funding. Most likely you’d only get offered 3 hours a day in a baby room if you were there full time.

they would be much better to admit the ‘free hours’ message is broken and reference proper subsidies and an approach to make the sector sustainable.

Btw I do think any incentive to get more childminders in is great. My childminder is fantastic and I can only hope more fab people sign up to provide settings as lovely and lively!

I think everyone could have done with the change a lot sooner.

Although it wouldn't have benefited me as we already get the 30 hrs, I was excited for the future and even considered maybe it is possible that I can have a 2nd. Now that idea is back on the shelf

Leaking the info on childcare to the press has got lots of parents' hopes up for imminent help with costs, only to have them dashed just now when the timescale for this was announced in the House. They never used to put out so much info from the Budget in advance, and hyping this one up, which would have made such a meaningful difference had it been introduced sooner, must be particularly annoying for those affected.

Timescales here: metro.co.uk/2023/03/15/budget-30-hours-of-free-childcare-for-every-child-over-the-age-of-9-months-18445544/

It's very difficult, because obviously the number of additional spaces could not be found overnight, but having the full implementation in 2025 means it's unlikely to happen, because it's unlikely the Tories will be in power by then.

Offering nothing extra until this time next year is a bit of a kick in the teeth, for people who'd got their hopes up, I think.

Why would more people turn to childminding? For £600 or to wrangle 5 two year olds - because they couldn't be arsed with just 4?

Perhaps if they unburdened childminders from the reams of paperwork you might swing a tipping point?