Labour Party Agenda for Education and Children

[ginag]

The party is asking for views and comments from members on all aspects of its policy. If you are a member it is a great opportunity to have your say and put forward the views of childminders who are not members. I took umbrage with the wording of the Agenda for Education and Children, in that childcare costs were described as "extortionate". This is my submission:-

I disagree with the wording of the Education and Children Agenda, where childcare is described as "extortionate". It reads like a Daily Mail headline. The definitions of "extortionate" include immoderate and unreasonable. I am a Registered Childminder with 14 years experience. The average cost of a full days childcare in Hampshire where I live and work is £40-£50 per day. This includes all meals, outings and the care and education of a child for up to 11 hours of the day. This is most definitely not unreasonable. After expenses including toys and resources, petrol, insurances etc the profit to a Childminder may be as little as £20 a day. This is definitely not immoderate.
The question is not the cost of a childcare system but how we as a nation should be paying for it. Flexible high quality childcare must be paid for. We should be proud of the work done by dedicated Childminders and nursery staff to care for and support the learning and development of the most vulnerable in our society. We should not belittle the vitally important work they do by claiming they charge too much.
Measures including the childcare element of Tax Credits and provision of funding for free Early Years Education for 2, 3 and 4 year olds relieves a burden on parents. Other ways of cutting the costs to parents can be found, and that is where we should be concentrating our discussions not on making Early Years workers feel they are viewed by the Labour party and society in general are taking advantage of hard working parents and charging more than they are worth.


I had just spent 5 hours doing work for my level 3 and it made my blood boil!
Gina

[Simona]

I have seen your post and have commented....if childcare is extortionate to parents I also think it is extortionate to deliver high quality



My worry on the manifesto is the introduction of the 25 hrs...an increase of 10 hrs from the current offer
While I totally see the point that this will allow parents to return to work and juggle work and family I am worried how it will be funded and how much providers will receive

One Nation Labour understands that to earn our way out of the cost of living crisis, we need to put an end to childcare holding back parents from playing their part in Britain’s future success. We recognise that parents are struggling with both the costs and lack of availability of childcare and that children benefit from high quality childcare with well-trained staff. The next Labour Government will expand free childcare from 15 to 25 hours per week for working parents of three and four year-olds. The bank levy rate will be increased to meet the cost of this extra childcare support, which will save parents over £1,500 per child per year.

I hope there will be an open debate on this because while looking after women who want to return to work we also need to look after the women who work in childcare who are on low wages and face huge costs....I believe 90% of the EY sector are women on low wages who continue to subsidise early education

I have input 3 times into the Commission, have spoken to many Shadow Ministers and I want to see engagement with them not just following Think Tanks ideas

[Simona]

Gina...your post in the Labour Party Your Britain has now received 3 comments...maybe we should encourage more people to add their views?

[AliceK]

Gina...your post in the Labour Party Your Britain has now received 3 comments...maybe we should encourage more people to add their views?

Is there a link for this?
Xx

[Simona]

Is there a link for this?
Xx

I am not sure...Your Britain is the website for members to input suggestions for the manifesto or comment on any of them
I will double check and come back if a link is available

[ginag]

Thank you Simona for your comment on the Party page.

This is the link but I am not sure whether it will work, as you may only be able to login as a member.

The cost of quality childcare / Education and Children Policy Consultation / Education and Children Policy Commission / Policy commissions / Agenda 2015 / Your Britain

or this one may be better.

Education and Children Policy Commission / Policy commissions / Agenda 2015 / Your Britain

The more childminders who have their say the better.

Gina

[barbarella68]

Daily Mail headline? I think you will find that all media including the BBC say this so it's not just isolated to The Daily Mail.

[Simona]

Thank you Simona for your comment on the Party page.

This is the link but I am not sure whether it will work, as you may only be able to login as a member.

The cost of quality childcare / Education and Children Policy Consultation / Education and Children Policy Commission / Policy commissions / Agenda 2015 / Your Britain

or this one may be better.

Education and Children Policy Commission / Policy commissions / Agenda 2015 / Your Britain

The more childminders who have their say the better.

Gina

Yes Gina...I was able to see all the 3 comments to your post without having to login so I hope more members will take a look ...whether they can input I am not sure if they are not members?

Barabarell68....I agree with you that the language is not exclusive to the Daily Mail and it is spreading to all those who have their say on childcare but I was shocked to see the word 'extortionate' on the party manifesto
I am also getting a bit weary of the one sided argument that childcare only affects working parents who do get help with costs while those who provide it are being hammered with ever increasing bureaucracy and rising costs.

What is the solution all these people are offering? can't see much difference between the 3 parties who are aiming everything at working mothers and the economy