MPs call for extension of 30 hours childcare to all children
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
The government's 30 hours free childcare initiative should be extended to all children as part of efforts to tackle social and economic inequalities, a cross-party group of MPs and peers has said.
The initiative, which launched in September, provides 30 hours of free childcare for three- and four-year-olds where both parents work, but neither earns more than £100,000 a year. Free childcare amounting to 15 hours a week is also available for some two-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds.
However, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on a fit and healthy childhood wants all children to automatically qualify for 30 hours.
A report by the group, on the impact of social and economic inequality on children's health, outlines concerns that a large group of families in need of support are missing out on the 30 hour provision under current arrangements.
Opening up the offer to all children is also needed "in order to develop a fully integrated society that does not institutionalise inequalities", states the report.
It adds: "Childcare is another potential early intervention tool. From September 2017, children in England were entitled to 30 hours of free provision per week. However, only parents already working and who earn at least the national minimum wage qualify.
"The scheme permits this allocation to run in tandem with claims for Universal Credit, tax credits or childcare vouchers, but a large swathe of families are not covered by the provision and its expansion to all UK children would deliver tangible and practical help to the families most in need."
Other APPG recommendations include raising the profile of children and social mobility issues in government through the creation of a new Cabinet-level role of minister for children.
A cross-departmental post of social mobility minister should also be created to ensure ministers across government collaborate together on policies aimed at improving life chances for disadvantaged children and their families.
The group also wants government to improve early intervention efforts through promoting schemes that are proven to be effective. It wants to see an annual best practice in early intervention summit staged, involving representatives from government, councils, business, community groups and charities.
In addition, the APPG is calling for breakfast clubs to be expanded so that they are available in all schools, free to all infant-age children and free to all other ages from low-income families. For affluent families there should only be a minimum charge.
"A free club can combat perceived free school meal stigma (whilst supporting childcare for working parents) and guarantee a breakfast to all children," states the report.
The report claims that successive governments have "skimped rather than saved" on tackling inequalities, and have played a costly policy game of "catching up later" instead of deploying the early intervention measures that are cheaper and more effective in the long term.
It states that although there are examples of good practice that go some way towards combating the socioeconomic inequalities that blight UK children's lives, there is "no overarching strategy to take from the best of present and past models and forge new frameworks and structures to enable all families to offer their children the best start in life".
It says policymakers must adopt fresh thinking and work in partnership with representatives from industry, the voluntary sector, communities, advertising and media.
"Barriers between sectors and government departments must be breached; voluntary ‘advice' replaced by statutory provision where necessary and new posts created. Professionals from all walks of life must accept a need to retrain and reappraise the way that they work with children and families," the report adds.
The group is co-chaired by Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick and Liberal Democat peer Baroness Benjamin. Its members include Labour MPs Ian Austin and Nic Dakin and Conservative peer Lord McColl of Dulwich.
"For social mobility to work for everyone in the United Kingdom, we should promote the early intervention policy measures that invest in children's health now and are cheaper and more effective in the long term," Dakin said.
"That's the way to achieve an economy that is as productive as it can be, delivered by a truly healthy population."
