Free childcare offer could force paying parents to give up work

Naomi Eisenstadt, director of the Sure Start programme between 1999 and 2006, raised the concerns in response to the decision by nurseries in two separate local authorities to end full-day placements and replace them with part-time morning or afternoon sessions.

In Medway in Kent, parents of two-year-olds at Saints Children’s Centre have begun a petition against the change, which they have been told is needed to ensure there are enough places available for two-year-olds eligible for free childcare later this year.

In a similar move, parents who pay for full-time care for two-year-olds at Chapel End Early Years Centre in Walthamstow, London have learnt that full-time daycare will end in September for the same reason.

The Department for Education is funding 15 hours of free childcare for the 20 per cent most disadvantaged two-year-olds in England from September.

Eisenstadt described the cases as “grim” and said it highlighted how policies developed by different parts of government - in this instance, the Department for Work and Pensions and the DfE - could conflict with each other.

“One bit of government is desperate for low-income families to work and [it will] pay for their childcare so they’re off benefits. Another bit of government is making it more likely that local authorities are having to reduce the amount of available childcare. It’s completely bizarre,” she said.

She added that it it could lead to more parents taking up welfare benefits: “If a mother has to give up work, particularly a lone parent, then you’re robbing Peter to pay Paul because that mother has to go on benefits.”