Cherie Blair calls for universal childcare strategy

The wife of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, said a cross-government, non-partisan strategy for achieving universal childcare would look “way beyond” the next general election in 2015 – but could realistically be achieved "over the timescale of a few elections".

Blair gave her views on childcare in an essay to mark 4Children’s 30th anniversary.

She wrote: “My feeling is that though childcare has been going up the policy agenda in recent months, we need a long-term vision for how best to support parents.

“The country should be developing a long-term, and staged, strategy for moving towards affordable and universal childcare: for pre-school children but as they grow up and start school too.”

Increasing the amount of free childcare for three- and four-year-olds in deprived areas from 15 to 25 hours a week - as proposed by Labour - was “a start” on that journey she said.

“But the ultimate aim should be for childcare to be available to parents of all backgrounds, whatever the age of their children, very much along the lines of what you already see in some Scandinavian countries, and we need a vision and strategy to set us on that course now,” she added.

Blair said affordable universal childcare was an investment worth making by governments because of the benefits it would offer to the economy and for family wellbeing.

She also said the proposed £1,200 annual government tax-break to help reduce the cost of childcare for dual-income households should be increased for families with children aged under two to reflect the higher fees charged by providers to care for them.

In addition, Blair said single-earner households could be offered the chance to “store up” the tax-break entitlement for up to three years to use when a second earner entered the labour market.

Blair called for help for families, especially mothers, back into employment after having a baby or a stay at home period. This could include a “returnership” programme (including work and training) for those who have taken time out of the labour market for caring responsibilities.