Queen's Speech: 30-hour free childcare plans ‘unlikely to succeed', charities warn

Legislation brought forward in a Childcare Bill, unveiled by the Queen in parliament today, will also require local authorities to publish information about the provision of childcare in their area.

It is one of a number of proposed bills set to affect children, young people, and families.

But the Pre-school Learning Alliance has said that while it welcomes plans to improve the availability of childcare, “they unfortunately remain unlikely to succeed in practice” because the government has “done very little to address concerns that the free childcare scheme is severely underfunded”.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the alliance pointed to existing research into free provision that identifies funding shortfalls of around 20 per cent.

“As a result, many are being forced to increase the cost of paid-for hours, resulting in higher childcare costs for parents,” he said.

“Extending the free childcare offer without first addressing these funding gaps will only exacerbate this problem further.”

Meanwhile a group of charities, consisting of Contact a Family, Every Disabled Child Matters and the Family and Childcare Trust, has warned that the childcare proposals do not address the lack of availability of childcare for disabled children.

Research by the organisations shows that many families with disabled children can't access the current offer of 15 free hours a week, because they struggle to find providers with the specialist skills to look after their child.

Amanda Batten, chief executive of Contact a Family, said: "We want fair play for families of disabled children when it comes to getting back to work and enjoying careers.

“Our concern is that the childcare offer as it stands will continue to disadvantage mums with disabled children hoping to return to work or increase their hours.

"Almost three quarters of mums with disabled children have had to cut back or give up work due to a lack of good-quality and affordable childcare. Our concern is that this proposal as it stands will continue to disadvantage them.

The Queen’s Speech also outlined plans to expand the troubled families programme, and the continuation of welfare reform, including the introduction of an “earn or learn” system for young people, whereby they have their benefits withdrawn unless they are working or in education.

The government will also legislate to create more academies, force local authorities to join regional adoption agencies, and improve access to mental health services.

There will also be a ban on all so-called “legal highs”.

Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society, said plans to continue to reform the welfare system, which will feature in a Full Employment and Welfare Benefits Bill, will “punish” children and teenagers.

“Already 3.7 million children live in poverty and after years of real-terms cuts, further freezes to working-age benefits, tax credits and child benefit will only make things worse,” he said.

“It is a scandal that by 2020 it looks likely that millions of children will still live in poverty in one of the richest countries in the world.

“Extending the benefit cap to thousands more families with children – many of whom are working or trying their best to find work, or are full-time single parents of young children – will barely make a dent in the deficit but will lead to more children slipping deeper into poverty.

“Punishing children and teenagers struggling on the breadline for the actions of their parents is not only deeply unfair but, in the long term, deeply counterproductive.”