As Ed Miliband has rightly pointed out prices have risen faster than wages in 40 of David Cameron’s 41 months as prime minister. The only month this didn’t happen is when the bankers’ deferred their bonuses to take advantage of the drop in the top rate of tax. The cost of living crisis isn’t just a phase – it is a fact of life for people across our country. In addition to rents, energy and food bills rising one of the biggest costs for families is childcare. According to the DayCare Trust the average cost of part-time childcare is £5,500 a year, in London this rises to an eye-watering £7,000 per year, per child.
To help families, both those with parents wishing to return to work after they have had children, and those who are unemployed and looking for work, we need to crack the problem of childcare. While not the only reason, affordable childcare is a key issue in combating the growing gap in pay between men and women. As the Fawcett Society recently pointed out after years of steady progress the pay gap between men and women is growing. For full time workers the gap now stands at 15.7 per cent, a jump of almost one per cent on the year before when the gap was 14.8 per cent. This is simply unacceptable. The Fawcett Society is right to say that ‘this is a watershed moment in the battle for equal pay, and could not come at a worse time.’
This startling fact should act as a wake-up call for all of us and should remind us that continued progress towards equality isn’t guaranteed. I don’t expect the chancellor, prime minister or even Nick Clegg to have a Damascene conversion in the next 16 months before the election, so we need to make sure we have a credible and bold offer for families on childcare. Our shadow minister for childcare and children, Lucy Powell, has started this important work by saying, ‘Labour’s new policy of an extension of free childcare for three and four year olds with working parents from 15 to 25 hours and the introduction of a primary childcare guarantee to help families manage before and after school care demonstrate that we are serious about supporting working mums and dads.’
We are the only party that is willing to tackle this issue, both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats cannot, and will not, deliver for families. If we don’t do this no one else will. It is important to crack childcare to help the economy grow by allowing parents who want to work more hours do so. It is also crucially important to help shrink the gender pay gap and reverse its recent rise. Doing so will not only usher in greater equality and fairness, but it will also mean women receive better pensions when they retire, which in turn will help reduce pensioner poverty and allow people to live a more dignified retirement. Between now and May 2015 we must unashamedly promote this message and let people know we are serious about helping them with practical policies that will put money in their pockets.
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Fiona Twycross AM is a Labour Londonwide assembly member
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