If last Sunday newspapers had suggested that childcare, not the economy, would be one of the key battleground issues emerging from the election manifesto launches this week many of us might have been sceptical.
As the week has progressed, however, it has become clear that women voters are being targeted by the Conservatives ahead of postal votes starting to drop over the next few days. With a YouGov poll for the Times in March suggesting that women are significantly more likely not to have yet have decided which party to support, attracting their vote could be key to determining which party gets the key to Downing Street.
Labour’s 2013 pledge of increasing the current offer of free quality childcare to 25 hours for three- and four-year-olds is one of our longest-standing (and fully funded) commitments. The policy, shaped by Alison McGovern, shadow minister for children and families, has been based on listening and responding to what families (both mothers and fathers) have said they need. With the average cost of part-time childcare around £6,000, and full-time childcare in London around £14,000, childcare represents a massive cost to families. A recent report by the Family and Childcare Trust said families found it cheaper for one parent (still normally the mother) to stay at home to look after young children.
The Tory announcement of 30 hours of free childcare for working parents with three- and four-year-olds is a blatant and unfunded (see a pattern developing here) bid to outdo Labour, and it looks like it.
Sure Start was one of Labour’s proudest achievements in government and the policies on early years in Labour’s manifesto would mark a continued prioritisation for Labour of early intervention. For Labour, Sure Start is and was about levelling the playing field – giving all children a fair start in life and a chance to succeed. The main problem for the Conservatives is that in the current parliament funding cuts have led to the loss of 720 Sure Start centres and 40,000 places. Forgetting the lack of any identifiable money for the pledge, their record in government shows it has little to no credibility.
Labour has also identified that childcare issues for parents do not stop when children start school and many parents, particularly mothers, struggle to juggle full-time work with care for primary school children. The proposal of a National Primary Childcare Service with a right to wraparound care is in many ways an even more radical announcement than the commitment to free preschool childcare. The model of volunteer-led provision has been used effectively by charities such as Magic Breakfast in delivery of breakfast clubs. The proposal would enable all parents with school-age children to work full time and at the same time address the shame of increasing numbers of children starting the school day too hungry to learn.
In contrast to Labour’s long-term policy commitment, considered solutions and record, the Tory announcement on childcare looks and feels like desperate electioneering. As a result the Tories will not be trusted and are unlikely to succeed in winning the argument on childcare or the votes of parents who have struggled to get by, and women wanting to return to work.
———————————-
Fiona Twycross is a member of the London assembly. She tweets @fionatwycross