Live webchat with childcare minister Sam Gyimah MP, Thursday 8 January 1-2pm

[KateHMumsnet]

Hello,

We're pleased to announce a webchat this week with the recently appointed childcare minister Sam Gyimah MP.

Sam attended schools in both Ghana and the UK and went on to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Somerville College, Oxford University. He spent 5 years working for Goldman Sachs and then went on to help build and develop a number of small businesses.

Sam was elected the Conservative Member of Parliament for East Surrey in 2010, and was appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education in July 2014, with responsibility for childcare provision. He has served as School Governor of an inner London school and on the Board of a housing association. He is married and has a very young son.

Please join us live on Thursday 8 January from 1-2pm. The Minister is keen to discuss the cost and availability of childcare in particular, so if you have any questions, now is the time to ask! If you can't make it on the day, please post your questions in advance here.

Thanks
MNHQ

@brandnewinformation

Hi Sam,

Welcome to Mumsnet - thanks for coming on. Forgive me if this isn't quite right, but I understand that under the current government, the Extended Schools programme set up by Labour in 2006 hasn't been afforded as much financial priority as it could have - why is this, and if the Conservatives are re-elected come May, where will they take the programme? 'Wraparound' childcare seems to be the most sensible solution to childcare problems for school-aged children...

Hi brandnewinformation,

The previous government's Extended Schools Programme cost about a billion pounds but didn't deliver the wraparound care that was expected, because of the tick box approach of the programme. Many schools now offer breakfast and after school clubs, but there is a lot more to be done, as I'd mentioned in my answer to BettyStogs.

@JaneAHersey

'Parents consider quitting work over childcare costs.' Reported by the BBC this morning. www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30710371

The above article makes interesting reading not least because the role of government is to serve the people not just themselves and big business. A point lost on the current administration.

"Parents of the youngest children are feeling the pressures most acutely and are calling on politicians to do more to help, particularly with the cost of childcare." As your government are absolving themselves of any responsibility in health and social care policies what is the point of this question and answer session today?

Hi JaneAHersey,

You're clearly not a fan! But since you asked, here is an answer.

Childcare is a massive priority for this government; we're investing an extra billion pounds a year for 15 hours free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds, and 40% of disadvantaged 2 year olds. In addition to this, later this year we'll be introducing tax-free childcare which will benefit nearly 2 million working families, allowing them to offset their childcare spend against their tax. This will be worth up to £2,000 per child and can be used for wraparound care, holiday care, nursery care, whatever childcare needs up to the age of 12.

I wanted to add that I am also working at a big 4 accounting firm and the only reason it works is because I don't live in the UK. I have a 3 and almost 2 year old and live in the NY metro area. Monthly cost for both children for 730-530pm is $2000 a month. DD is in preschool for most of the day.

Would love to raise my DC in the UK but it isn't a financially viable option. I can only guess from the huge number of middle class English families I meet here that i am one of many who have moved because the UK doesn't provide our families with viable resources.

Primary schools as they are now can't even provide school places for children of school ate - most schools don't have the space, facility, and many schools have had temporary classrooms in the playground for years. I am very curious to see how schools will be able to physically provide wrap around care - maybe by closing down their library? Computing suite? Oh no wait, many are already gone because schools are under an increased pressure to offer more classrooms. How exactly is this going to work?

Can we please have an explanation of how CM agencies will cut costs?

@adsy

Do you mean that CM's would offer the care in the schools? What would they do with the babies and toddlers they look after? Most CM's already offer before and after school care.

Hi adsy,

Currently, childminders can only offer childcare in a domestic setting. What the new regulation does is allow them to offer their services in a non-domestic setting, eg a school. Childminders can be a cost effective source of childcare, especially their costs are down by 13% in the last year. So as a result of this regulation, more parents can access this form of childcare if it suits their needs.

@strictlyison - most schools that do it onsite use their hall and outside areas linked to it if they have it. Some schools have a link with a neighbouring Sure Start centre or linked school and walk the children to and from school. The are various models that seem to work work even in the smallest schools. So if they can make it work why can all of them?

Yes, but what would they do with the babies and toddlers while they are providing care in a school for school age children. It makes no practical sense.

"Currently, childminders can only offer childcare in a domestic setting. What the new regulation does is allow them to offer their services in a non-domestic setting, eg a school. Childminders can be a cost effective source of childcare, especially their costs are down by 13% in the last year. So as a result of this regulation, more parents can access this form of childcare if it suits their needs."

But that has two major drawbacks that I can think of immediately:

1. The purpose of childminders is to provide childcare in a domestic setting. That's a key reason why people choose childminders - because they want their children in a home from home environment rather than a school or nursery setting.
2. What do childminders who provide wraparound care in a school do with the babies and toddlers in their care? Because wraparound care is only before and after school, and they need to earn money during the day. So do they have to shift from school to home and back again every day? It makes no sense.

Good afternoon. I have a question about the Shared Parental leave system to come in in April. The rules are ridiculously complicated and companies will be required to produce complicated and long winded policies, that will difficult to understand.

Do you really think The Shared Parental Leave regulations will have any impact in their current form?

Won't the impact of wages increasing the sector mean that childcare becomes more expensive rather than more affordable?

English & maths requirements have been introduced for all adult learners and Apprentices wanting to qualify themselves to work as Early Years Educators. But whilst having staff with better English and maths skills is clearly beneficial, GCSEs are not appropriate for many adult learners. The unintended consequence of introducing this policy has lead to a massive drop in the number of learners undertaking Level 3 Childcare qualifications which will have grave consequences for Early Years employers. Less available qualified staff will drive up wages and will further increase childcare costs for all.

This has to be addressed urgently otherwise it will take years to re-stabilise the childcare workforce.

I work with the early years and agree with PP teacherlikesapples that valuing well qualified practitioners and providing good quality training is crucial to improving our care and education for children at this vital stage of their lives.
This valuing needs to include both recognition and the provision of at least a living wage

Why has your party spent so much time creating a new system (tax free childcare which incidentally isn't tax free at all) that will involve parents having to reapply every 3 months and deal with a government site (which will inevitably break or be insecure) for the new tax free childcare when the existing childcare voucher scheme works so easily and could have been amended slightly to help self-employed, give more assistance and be more widely offered.

Two key things I believe would make a huge difference to the cost of childcare are a. making all childcare tax free with no cap, and allowing childcare providers to charge top up fees for the 'free' 15 hours that 3 & 4 year olds get, maybe means tested so that lower earners didn't get charged. Where I live in south east London no childminders offer the free hours, because it's more paperwork and demand exceeds supply to such a degree they don't need to. Private nurseries have 2 year waiting lists for the pre-school rooms. You can get a free place at a council run pre-school but they only provide the 3 hours per day so you still need wraparound care, and using a childminder/nanny means you have to pay for the whole day anyway as they can't fill the 3 hour space when your child is at pre-school. So the free 15 hours only really works (from a childcare perspective) if you use a nursery, which have a huge shortage of spaces. Of course that doesn't negate the educational benefits of pre-school, but it fundamentally is not a childcare solution for working parents.

Hi I dont really want to give my baby to nursery. Where she will be one of many other children a staff at the nursery to attend to, while trying to do other stuff. It woould be better for her to get one on one attention.

Can you please explain to me why cant I get child care tax credits if I give my baby to my neighbour to look after. I have a neighbour who has just retired, and £122.50 per week would help to go towards the heating, food etc... while she looks after my baby. It would aso keep the elderly mentally and phyically active. So you will be saving money on NHS, by preventing illness arising in the elderly by keeping them mentally and physically active. Whoever I give my baby to, I would obviously vet and trust them. They dont really need to be vetted and get approved and waste more authority valuable time and resources.

What I am saying, is if someone is working more than 16hrs per week, the baby is obviously being looked after by somebody. Wouldnt it be easier to just give us that tax credit for us for us to decide how to pay and who the childcare cost should go to. On £122.50, and for that person to turn on the central heating, food, toys etc... they wont really be making a profit anyway for you monitor and tax?

@cleanandclothed

Sam, the 'tax free childcare' that you refer to above is a 20% credit on childcare up to ?10k, is that right? So to get the full ?2k in your answer, the parents would need to pay ?8k themselves. Slightly disingenous to include it in an answer without mentioning that.

For what it is worth, my child care costs for 2 children, 4 days a week are ?20k. 1 after school nanny plus holiday club, 1 nursery. And emergencies still send me scrabbling round.

2 at nursery would be even more expensive.

Hi cleanandclothed,

Yes that's right. Given how much you're spending on childcare, it looks like you would get the full benefit of the policy in addition to the free 15 hours for 3 and 4 year olds. Depending on the age of your children, this could be worth up to £4,200 per child which is not an insignificant level of support.

Tax free childcare obviously applies to working families as you offset 20% of your childcare costs as a rebate. But it's a billion pounds extra that the government is putting into childcare, to support families. Currently you can only get this support if your employer has a voucher scheme. But this means that anyone in work who purchases childcare can actually access this support. That is a positive change.

Obviously one of the big issues in childcare is choice, in terms of what type of provision you think works best for your children. Government policy is aimed at supporting the majority of parents and circumstances, but can't account for every situation.

Sorry should add, top up fees for the 15 hours would enable more childminders to offer the places as so often the council paid rate is far less than the standard hourly rate. Likewise nurseries might be able to afford to offer more places without the current restrictions many place (like, you can have the 3 hours but your child has to attend the whole day).

Good afternoon,
My question is why is the cost of childcare so inconsistent?
At the moment my husband and I have two children with an age gap of three years due to the cost of childcare. I also work part-time but there is so much stigma attached when either of our children are ill. My wage at the moment is completely eaten up by my daughter's childcare fees.

Hi MonkeyPuzzler,

We want the same for children with special education and disability needs as for all children. Local Authorities are required by law to secure funded places for parents that want their children to take them up, and if a parent is finding it difficult to find an early education place they should contact their local family information service.

Local authorities have been given the flexibility to use funding from a dedicated schools grant to pay above the local hourly rate if that's necessary to support the special educational need of a particular child. Obviously for children with the highest needs we have introduced new education and healthcare plans to address their needs.

@MonkeyPuzzler

Please could you explain if you have any plans to increase availability of childcare for children with Special Needs ? As the parent of a child with SEN, I know first hand it can be almost impossible to find suitable provision for children with SEN. This in turn creates a major barrier for parents to work if they wish to.

Can you explain how high quality care in Early Years settings can be maintained with increased ratios of 1:13?
Can you assure us that the Government has no plans to increase the ratios for Early Years settings?

I am pleased you are on here, Sam, but I don't feel the debate is moving forwards in political terms. The elephant in the room is why the government interferes at all. If you got rid of all taxation and regulation in relation to this, I imagine the market might boom and costs might plummet.

Then again we do have a few child protection legacy problems from the golden era of childcare when everyone did as they pleased, I freely admit ....

My grandmother has always looked after my 4yo since she was 6months and I had to return to work to complete my apprenticeship.

She also had to work part time to be able to afford an acceptable standard of living.

If DD had been in private nursery I could have claimed a lot of tax credits. Has the Gov not thought of giving a portion of this to relative carers. It would have stopped the need for her working part time and freed up a job for a younger unemployed person which i hear is a gov worry (% of unemployed young people)

@Tanith

Hello Mr. Gyimah,

Please can you explain how childminder agencies are expected to lower costs for parents?

Why has the Government pursued this policy, despite widespread opposition from both childminders and parents?

How do you see the future of childminding if your party is re-elected?

Thank you

Hi Tanith,

Childminder agencies are potentially a big innovation in the childcare space, because agencies can provide the business support that childminders need and allow them to focus on what they are really passionate about, which is caring for children. CMAs can also generate new business for childminders.

For example, I met a new childminder when I was on my visit to Bolton before Christmas. She had registered with OFSTED but didn't really know how to go about generating business, and hadn't done anything for a couple of years. Joining an agency gave her the training, business support and access to children who needed care. So childminder agencies are a good thing for childminders.

There was a myth, however, that existing childminders would lose their OFSTED rating with the introduction of CMAs, but that's simply not true. I presume you're a childminder and if so, you'll know that we've made it possible for childminders to access their free entitlement.

Your final point is on how we'll support childminders if reelected, and the best way for me to answer that is that we understand that when it comes to childcare, no one size fits all. Some parents prefer childminders, others like the flexibility and long hours of private nurseries, and in some cases a school nursery is what works best. Our job is to help parents give their children the best start in life, whatever the childcare choices they make.

I wish this government would recognise that in most cases, the best people to provide childcare for their children are the parents.

@neverforever

Hello Sam - I was wondering, thinking about leading by example etc, if you feel that parliament is genuinely more family-friendly for women AND men since changes were made to hours etc?

Hi neverforever,

The improved hours at Parliament have helped, but mainly those MPs whose families are in London with them. If your children are at school in your constituency then finishing at 7pm doesn't make a difference to how much time you get to have with them.

A few of you have asked about my own childcare arrangements, and with a 9 month old I am increasingly coming to realise how tricky it can be to get it right. My wife and I spoke to a number of our friends about how they do it, and realise that no one size fits all. My wife is going back to work and my son has just started nursery, and between us we juggle dropping off, picking up and the emergency childcare when he's unwell, and someone has to be with him.