Tories ‘failing working parents’ as holiday childcare doubles since 2010, say Labour
The cost of holiday childcare has risen by more than 50% across Britain since 2010, Labour has said.
Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said the situation was made worse because incomes had fallen in real terms over the same period.
The North East has been hardest hit with rises of 111%, followed by Wales at 100%, the West Midlands at 82%, and Greater London at 73%, Ms Rayner said, following analysis of surveys by the Family and Childcare Trust.
Ms Rayner said: “The Tories are quite simply failing working parents, who are seeing the cost of their childcare skyrocket, their wages fall, and their government failing to give them the support they need.
“Childcare costs have shot up since the Conservatives took office in 2010, and both wages and government support have failed to keep pace with either the cost of childcare or the needs of families.”
The East Midlands had rises of 63%, according to Labour, followed by the North West, 43%; the East of England, 36%; the South West, 32%; the South East, 30%; Yorkshire and Humber, 21%; and Scotland 19%.
The figure for Britain as a whole is a 51% rise.
The Tories said Labour had “blundered” because the party was in charge of childcare in Wales, where they said rises had been double the national average.
Children and families minister Robert Goodwill said: “This blunder from Labour shows their own failure on childcare – as families in Wales, where Labour are in charge of childcare, face twice the increase of costs as in England.
“Conservatives have taken action so this that summer parents benefit from 15 hours of free childcare, income tax cuts worth over £1,000 since 2010 and a pay rise worth £1,400 a year to a full time worker through the National Living Wage.
“But we want working parents to have more help with the costs of childcare so from September we are doubling that offer to 30 hours for working parents – worth up to £5,000 per child – with that increased entitlement successfully rolled out in several areas across the country.”
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2017, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Niall Carson / PA Wire.
