I’m sure many parents who are struggling to find a nursery place for their children will be happy to hear the proposal from Labour to create 100,000 new places in England, including in areas currently with limited provision (Labour pledges to create more than 100,000 new nursery places, 9 June).
But in a number of Labour-controlled local authorities, there are desperately needed nursery places that are facing the axe, including here in Leeds, as well as places such as Hackney and Brighton. Why convert schools, when there are purpose-built places already available that just need to be kept open? One of the reasons we have been given for the proposal to close three nurseries in Leeds, and privatise up to 12 others, is a lack of staffing, so parents will be keen to learn how Labour’s proposal will ensure these are fully staffed places with correct training.
In Leeds we are calling on our Labour city council to delay making a decision on proposals for the 15 Little Owls nurseries under threat until after the situation on childcare and local government funding is clear, after the election. Ultimately we need publicly owned and democratically controlled free nursery provision for all. As the council executive is set to take a decision on 19 June, we will be marching from one of the nurseries under threat this Saturday, as well as lobbying the meeting on the 19th. It would be very disappointing to parents if, just after Labour announces new nursery places, a Labour-run authority axes nursery places. We urge the council to think again.
Iain Dalton
Leeds
• It is all very well for Keir Starmer to promise more affordable childcare and good to know he has plans for how to fund it. But this will not address the biggest obstacle, which is a critical lack of staff. Like all areas of the care sector, nurseries constantly struggle to recruit. The qualifications and training required for childcare jobs have grown and grown, while the pay has barely risen above minimum wage.
I often hear people say: “Oh, childcare is so expensive, it is barely worth me going to work.” What they are really saying is: “I want the person who looks after my children to earn a lot less than I do.” Until we start to value carers properly, 100,000 new nursery places will just be pie in the sky.
Anne-Louise Crocker
Shoreham, Kent
• While it is commendable to try to continue with the childcare expansion set out by the Conservatives, it is a poisoned chalice. The elephant in the room is that the current childcare system is not working. Creating nursery places in existing primary schools is shortsighted. Headteachers don’t have the expertise and knowledge to look after our most vulnerable cohort of children.
Early years is specialist. Looking after nine-month-old babies is very different from two-, three- and four-year-olds. Getting a classroom “ready” for babies will take more than £40,000. Babies need to have sleep rooms, changing facilities and spaces to prepare bottles. Schools are not set up for this.
No thought has been put into the model of delivery. Who will work in these 3,300 classrooms when there’s already a staff shortage? The current Department for Education recruitment has not been successful – just look at its own report from April entitled The Impact of Childcare Reforms on Childcare and Early Years Providers.
Emily Brookes
Cusop Dingle, Herefordshire
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
