There are now two children for every childcare place in London, new analysis suggests, highlighting the “dire state” of provision in the capital.
Research found that there were 1,226 fewer registered places in London compared with 2021, which was heaping extra pressure on working parents who were struggling to find affordable care.
Kingston, Hounslow, Hillingdon and Wandsworth saw the biggest drop in the number of childcare providers, with falls of more than 10 per cent. It came as the cost of childcare spiralled, with a nursery place for a child under two rising by more than £600 in five years.
Labour said the double whammy of closures and cost rises was pushing women out of the workplace. On a visit to a breakfast club at Prince of Wales Primary School in Enfield today, Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: “A decade of Conservative neglect has pushed London’s childcare system to breaking point and after they crashed the economy, we are likely to see more providers leave the sector.”
The analysis of ONS and Department for Education data showed that in total there were 275,900 registered childcare places in London and 529,000 children aged four and under, meaning there were almost double the number of children than places.
It came as further analysis from Labour showed that key workers were now spending more than a quarter of their household incomes on childcare compared with 14 per cent a decade ago. The number of women not working to care for family also rose by three per cent in the last year, according to the ONS. This was the first increase in around 30 years.
Ms Phillipson said: “Labour will create a new modern childcare system that supports families from the end of parental leave to the end of primary school, giving parents choices and the growth our economy needs. The first step on that road will be breakfast clubs for every primary school child in England, with councils enabled to open new maintained nurseries.”
A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said: “We recognise that families and early years providers across the country are facing financial pressures. That’s why we have spent more than £20 billion over the past five years to support families with the cost of childcare.”
