Does everyone think childcare should be paid for?

[Cococomellon]

I have seen a lot of posts in social media about the cost of childcare, that it should be free and all the reasons in favour of that such as allowing both parents to work and the impact on the economy.

I can see how this would be a benefit. I have a young child and pay for childcare but I planned for this and it is not a surprise to me.

Who pays for this "free" childcare? Is there spare money the government has squirrelled somewhere? Should we all pay more taxes? Will the nhs get even less funding? Schools?

Perhaps I am just very right wing as I don't see to see the counter- arguments but I'm sure many people (some who don't have children) don't want to pay for others children to go to nursery?

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..

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

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

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.

It benefits the child.

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

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

If the parents are not working why do they need paid for child care. Surely the free childcare should be given to the working parents?

I think there should be a little more funding, but not free.

The more important issue for me is normalising men looking after children - it shouldn’t be the Mother that automatically drops work. That’s where society is failing. Childcare is a shared cost, both or either parents should take the career hit not just the Mother. Choice.

There are the beginnings of legal possibilities with this - Shared Parental Leave etc - but there is a long way to go. The bigger change that needs to occur is societal. It starts with renaming groups called ‘Mums and Tots’ and ends with nobody raising an eyebrow in work if the bloke reduces hours / quits for child raising.

Early education, basically to break a cycle of deprivation.

one child, why on earth do you think it’s worthwhile paying you to stay home when it doesn’t benefit anyone outside of your tiny bubble?

Which benefits society when they are easy to teach at school and ultimately become useful members of society.

Its also a choice to play contact sports.

Should they also be denied free health care when that catches up with them?

Let's say I earn the National
Minimum wage of 9.50/hour. Childminder costs £5/hour.

That leaves me £4.50x40 = £180/week to pay for everything else.

Obviously not taking account of tax/NI nor child benefit here, nor many other factors.

But you can start to see how difficult paying for childcare without any government help is.

No, in our current climate, i dont think it should be free.

I think our children are being neglected enough with their educations, so all monies should be ploughed into that and many other things

I dont think free childcare for all would be the blanket answer to helping women back into the workplace and the best use of our money.

Childcare is heavily subsidised for age 3 and 2 in some cases. 30 hours is pretty good imo

I think the prices are high and could definitely be reduced. However we do already get 20% Tax Free from the government and the 30 hours free when they turn 3.

Nurseries are already bursting at the brim. I had to reserve my second child's space before he was even born. So I think if it was made free there would be enough places for all the children anyway!

The issue is some women don’t want men to care for their children.

I see it often on AIBU, someone posts they’re doing SPL and they get judged for it, or some women see it as ‘their time’ and refuse to share even with willing partners. I’ve posted before about SPL and been told ‘well your husband might be oh so progressive but at least I didn’t have to leave my baby at 6 months’

I’d be all for forced SPL, reduce maternity leave entitlements to 6 months and then if a family wants a parent at home after this point it is the other parent if there is one (obviously doesn’t apply to single parents)

Free childcare is a strange idea IMO. Nothing is free, the govt would have to pay the people who are providing the service. Millions and millions and millions.

To stop the circle of deprivation.

I remember speaking to a couple of my Nordic friends.

Problem families have lots of intervention to ensure their children become useful members of society. One pointed to someone I met who was actually from a problem family, they ended up being an academic with a doctorate and everything.

Its about pulling people out of poverty/deprivation/trauma cycles. The first three years of a child's life are incredibly important with regards to this.

Childcare cost should be lower, not free. The NHS is struggling to deliver the care we pay for, because it's totally free.

I think childcare costs should be subsidised based on income with a maximum cap of cost, for example £1000 per child per month.

If fathers had say 3 months paid after the 9 months and the woman couldn't take it, them more men would do it.

In my case my partner took SPL as he got more money then I did.

It's currently really unbalanced though. We paid for childcare from a year to starting school. It cost about £40k for a part time place at a high quality nursery. We used TFC for some of that cost. That could only be afforded because we have well paid jobs. It also means we have paid a lot in tax in that time, I've carried on paying off my student loan and paying into my pension.

Otherwise there is a gap with no entitlement/subsidy between paid maternity/shared parental leave of nine months to term after child turns three (two for some low income families). That means many can't afford to work for that period, leave the workplace, aren't maintaining their skills, aren't paying tax, aren't paying back student loans, aren't contributing to a pension. Then it's a struggle to get back into work and to find hours that work around that childcare availability. Within a few years you have someone, usually a woman, who has a big gap in pension contributions and who can't return to the workplace at anything like the point she left it as she hasn't been able to update skills etc.

Subsidising childcare properly would mean more money being paid in tax, less money being paid out in the future (to support future pensioners who haven't paid in enough), support more, especially women, to keep working, and provide employment for people - ideally paid properly.

And trust me, there are people on here who would argue for that.