Labour is set to make improved childcare a key pledge in its campaign for the next election, with plans to expand nurseries and ease the burden on parents.
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the country needs to see a “transformation” in the childcare system which supports children from the “end of parental leave to the end of primary school”.
It comes after the MP visited Estonia to observe childcare and early years education, where all children over 18 months are guaranteed a place in state-run nurseries until they go to school when they are seven – all for €70 a month or less.
Currently, working parents in the UK have to wait until the child is three years old before they receive 30 hours of free childcare.
A maintained nursery school, in comparison, provides state-funded childcare up to the age of five but there are only a small number in the country due to their high costs.
This leaves many parents who want to work in a difficult position as they cannot afford childcare once parental leave finishes.
The result is more parents – and mothers in particular – having to delay getting back into work because the contribution from the government is not enough.
“I don’t think you can talk about growing your economy unless you’ve got a childcare system that supports parents,” Ms Phillipson told The Guardian.
It comes after approximately 15,000 mothers gathered on the last weekend of October to demand reform in the childcare sector.
Protesters held banners reading: “Invest in my womb and see the economy boom” and “Affordable childcare now,” as they marched to Parliament Square.
According to Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, the UK “has the second-most expensive childcare in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the third-worst ranking maternity benefit, and the worst ranking paternity benefit in Europe”.
