Universal childcare should be Labour’s ultimate goal
—Until relatively recently, childcare was – in the context of political discourse – one of various subheadings under the title ‘women’s issues’, which itself was a short chapter towards the end of the book. That is now far from the case. Childcare policy is front and centre of the political debate and will form an important part of Labour’s manifesto at the next election. Childcare is, rightly, no longer considered simply a ‘women’s issue’ but instead an economic one, one of gender equality and fairness too.
I have lost count of the number of people in Lincoln who have told me that they, or their other half, would like to work, but the cost of a childminder or nursery means it just is not cost-efficient for their family. In other words, they would not be any better off by both parents working, because the cost of childcare is greater than the extra money they would have coming in. It cannot be fair or right that going out to work makes your family worse off.
The childcare crisis is not just in relation to costs, however (which have spiralled out of control relative to family budgets over the last four years), it is about availability too. At the latest count, the shortfall in free nursery places for eligible two-year-olds stood at 60,000.
Generally speaking it is women who bear the responsibility for childcare, and research indicates that four in 10 women who are not working, want to. The lack of affordable provision without doubt, therefore, holds women back and is a black mark on our gender equality scorecard. It would not be entirely unfair to speculate that, had the caring responsibility been primarily a male one, we would not – in 2014 – still be discussing whether or not families should be offered basic forms of assistance.
Expensive and patchy childcare provision is detrimental to the families who cannot find, or who overpay for, care, but it is also detrimental to the economy as a whole. Fewer people in work means less money flowing into the exchequer. Qualifications, often earned with some taxpayer expense, go unused. We are not talking small beer: in fact, if the skills of women who are currently out of work were fully utilised the United Kingdom could deliver economic benefits of over £20bn per year.
So the need is clear and I am proud to say that the childcare policies which Labour has committed to not only prove that we understand the need but also that we will ensure it is met. Labour’s promises to provide 25 hours of free childcare to working parents of three- and four-year-olds, and guaranteed access to wraparound childcare through primary schools, are simple, sensible and popular on the doorstep. Labour has also been right to concentrate on the quality of care, which – as you would expect when your children are concerned – is of paramount importance to parents.
But Labour’s ultimate goal should be to introduce a system of universal childcare, modelled on those of Scandinavian countries. This substantial investment in children’s early lives would boost employment and the wider economy, reduce child poverty and allow greater opportunities for the kind of preventative work which averts future problems and, in due course, saves money.
Given the tight financial constraints an incoming Labour government would face next May, this is no easy ambition. There are, however, now a series of substantive suggestions about how the initial investment might be funded. IPPR, in its Condition of Britain report, proposed a combination of the abolition of the Tories’ new marriage tax allowance; restrictions on pension relief; and a freezing of child benefit for school-age children.
As Lucy Powell, Labour’s childcare spokesperson, has suggested, there are good grounds for ruling out a freeze on child benefit. What is crucial, as she has also argued, is that we start to think about how we shift public support from money in the pocket to quality services and institutions.
While there can be no denying that funding the initial costs of such a scheme may be difficult, we should make our ambition of universal provision clear and build the case over the coming months. Nothing would better provide the bedrock for the equality of opportunity we are all striving for.
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Lucy Rigby is parliamentary candidate for Lincoln
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Join Lucy and others at tomorrow’s event at Labour party conference:
The care crunch: How does Labour help families meet work and childcare pressures?
8-9.15am, Monday 22 September 2014
Lancashire Room, Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5AN
Lucy Powell MP Shadow minister for children and childcare
Paul Bartlett Head of employee solutions, Grass Roots Group
Dalia Ben-Galim Associate director for families and work, IPPR
Anne Longfield Chief executive, 4Children
Chair: Lucy Rigby Parliamentary candidate for Lincoln