Govt to up funded childcare to 30 hours a week from September
When adding up the savings gained from the government’s free breakfast club roll-out and school uniform cap, this will rise up to £8k for working parents
The government has announced that, from today (12 May), all eligible working parents of children who will be nine months old before 1 September can apply to access up to 30 hours of funded childcare a week, which is estimated to save them up to £7,500 a year per child.
When adding up the savings gained from the government’s free breakfast club roll-out and school uniform cap, this will rise up to £8k for working parents who also have school-aged children every year.
This latest announcement follows the successful introduction of 15 funded hours for children from nine months last September, with 499,592 children already benefiting from access to more affordable and high-quality early years education and childcare.
Through the Plan for Change, the government has allocated £2bn extra compared with the last year to support existing childcare providers who deliver the 35,000 additional staff and 70,000 places required to meet demand for September.
According to a new government survey of parents who took part in last September’s free childcare trial, the roll-out broke down barriers to opportunity and played a key role in supporting British business and kick-starting economic growth.
Lower-income families are seeing the biggest impact, with one in five of those earning between £20k and £40k having increased their working hours thanks to the 15 hours brought in last year.
Looking ahead to this September, of the 2,723 respondents who are planning to increase their childcare hours, over half (1,425) are intending to up their work hours too.
Education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: “This government has a clear Plan for Change to break the unfair link between background and opportunity across this country, which starts by ensuring our children start school ready to learn.
“Early years is my number one priority, and making sure families are able to benefit from this rollout is a promise made, and a promise kept. But this is just the beginning. Through the hard work of the sector, supported by our record investment, landmark school-based nursery rollout and focus on vital early learning support, we will deliver an early years system that gives every child the best start in life.”
