Free childcare - a farce?

[aliatalia]

Does anyone think the government decided to offer free hours of childcare as an election strategy, which they don't care about or will share details on unless they win?
All local nurseries have said they won't offer it, so I'm guess they decided to fund it knowing that no one will be able to take it up!

I saw the 17% statistic the other day and messaged our nursery to ask, they are still discussing it as they don't have the details yet from the government. I think the main issue is the lack of understanding, I've had to explain to several other parents it's not free it's reduced and some friends made decisions to have children on the offer of "free" childcare. I'm hoping we get it as currently after nursery fees I earn £95 a month 😭 (Obviously DH pays too, but just as figure of me working vs staying home)

@Decembersunset The fees increased 50% in 5 years since my eldest went to the same nursery while my salary increased maybe 15%, but effectively less as I have to pay 40% for any increase.

Our nursery has increased by 40% in 18 months 😭

It's not "free".
It's not "the Government" who pay for it - it's taxpayers.
Any public contribution you do receive is something to be appreciated, as other people are therefore paying towards your lifestyle choice to have children - some people choose NOT to have children because they know they can't afford them.

The childcare sector has said repeatedly they can’t afford it so it’s so bizarre that people aren’t listening.

Just because the government are saying it’ll be offered doesn’t mean spaces will be available.
I mean, the government could offer free childcare from 8-6 daily with all meals included, but that’s not the same as the places actually being available.

this is going to end up like respite funding imo. We have access to a very generous respite budget for our DD. It ticks lots of boxes of what he’ll we’ve been offered. Means fuck all as there are no places we can spend it, but it looks good on paper.

@Hbh17 👌 cool story.

Do you feel the same about pensions? Because the working population are paying the state pension of the retired, and are fairly likely never to get a useful state pension themselves. Why should taxpayers subsidise the lifestyles of those who never bothered getting a private pension?

What about health care? There are plenty of people who burden the NHS by being fat or smoking or playing sports. Why should anyone else subsidise their life choices?

oh yeah, because that’s what society does. We don’t just pay for what we believe in or use personally.

The kids of today are the taxpayers of tomorrow. We need them to keep our society going.

Unless we import more workers, but somehow I’m guessing you’re not keen on that, either…

Also, there is a ton of evidence to show that pre-school is massively beneficial to children, and reduces the need for (more expensive) interventions and support in later education. Thats why even horribly republican states in the US tend to have pre-k programmes.

finally, it also means more women (for it is usually women) can reenter the workforce - again, good thing for society and the economy.

Don’t be fooled into thinking the government does this for altruistic reasons - the sums stack up. More money for childcare = more money in the economy

I can't see this happening in any meaningful way. Parents will end up paying the same amount as before (e.g £600 a month) but instead of previously the fees being £600/month it'll be 'total cost now £900, funded childcare pays £300, shortfall is £600' or similar.

I'm hoping that in effect nurseries may have a bit more as they will increase fees but also get a subsidy which may help pay for staff and overheads/sundries etc. Maybe this is wishful thinking.

100% if labour get in this will be tapered at a frustratingly low level (like child benefit which tails off from £50k). I will still vote labour but again this will skew heavily towards those on much lower incomes, rightly or wrongly.

Childcare is a hideous time. We are just out- youngest started school preschool this september so monthly costs dropped from £1000 a month to £250 for both for wraparound. I'd love for it to improve but I don't hold out much hope and I feel angry for how financially screwed we were for those early years.

You can have children and then circumstances change for the worse. Just saying. Here's your medal by the way.

I didn’t realise it was optional but my sons nursery doesn’t offer any free/funded hours for any age group. I overheard one of the parents asking as her daughter was turning 3 and the staff said she is welcome to send her to another nursery for the 30 free hours and then keep her at the current place if she needs extra days. The plus side(?) of this is that the staff retention is excellent (all staff have been there for at least 8 years with older staff for 10 years) and the teaching and care is excellent too as they can afford to pay staff a good wage

Only way it can work is if government fund it
properly, which they aren’t doing. Nurseries can’t afford to take any more financial hit - coming from someone who used to work in early years

Honestly it’s going to seriously affect how many people have kids. It’s a huge problem.

Anyone earning 25-45k is going to be hit hardest by this - unless they have family members willing to help out care for DC.

We are in our 20s, TTC and the sheer cost of childcare is a reason why we’ll probably stop at one. Even if you wait till your eldest is in school, you’ve still then got to find pretty much £1500 a month for full time care for youngest and probably then wraparound care for the eldest. Don’t fancy paying £1500 a month for childcare for 8-9 years consecutively. You’d not afford anything.

17% is just so low isn’t it… especially if people have made decisions based off this as you say