EXCERPTS
Soaring childcare costs risk plunging kids into poverty, research reveals.
Children of working parents who have to fork out for nursery costs are a third more likely to plummet below the poverty line, the study for the Gingerbread charity and Child Poverty Action Group shows.
Their report comes as the Government struggles to explain how its pre-election pledge of 30 hours of free childcare a week for three and four-year-olds will work.
Gingerbread Chief Executive Fiona Weir said: “This research proves the costs are having a very real and damaging effect on the poorest families. Government support is years away from helping many poor families who simply can’t afford to wait.”
If childcare fees were included in household bills used to measure poverty, 133,000 extra kids would have been classed as poverty-struck, according to figures from 2012-3, the most recent available.
Loughborough University experts found that children of the “working poor” are more likely to be in poverty because their parents spend so much of household income on childcare.
Its report says: “Over the past decade, state support and wages have not kept pace with the soaring costs of childcare.
“Nursery costs for a two-year-old have risen by 33% over the past five years. Childcare is now the most expensive item purchased by many families with young children.
“Unsurprisingly, many are struggling to cope. Half of single parents surveyed said they had to borrow money from friends, family or banks to pay for childcare in the past two years.”
Child Poverty Action Group chief Alison Garnham said: “Despite recent progress, childcare costs still make it hard for low income working families to enter or progress in paid work – and children in these families still face the day to day reality of living in poverty because of it.”
The Prime Minister targeted working families with an election giveaway to double the amount of free childcare from 15 hours to 30.
The Tory manifesto said: “For families with young children, childcare is not one issue among many – it is the issue. They’re asking: how can we make this work? How can we afford it? It shouldn’t have to be this way.
“Because of the changes we have made to curb pension relief for the highest earners, we can afford to make the following commitment. We are going to take that free childcare – and for working families, we will double it.
“With a Conservative Government, you will get 30 hours of free childcare a week – equivalent to £5,000 a year.”
But childcare providers last month warned the plans for 600,000 families would cause “meltdown” due to a funding shortfall.
They feared the policy was “grossly underfunded” and that at least £354million extra cash would be needed.
A Government spokesperson said: “We are absolutely on the side of hard-working families who want to get on in life. Thanks to Government reforms, the number of children growing up in workless families is at a record low.
“We want to make high quality, affordable childcare available for everyone – that is why we are introducing 30 free hours of childcare per week for three- and four-year-olds to help parents back into work or work more hours, if they choose to do so. This will be worth around £5,000 per child per year.
“This increased offer of free childcare is just part of a wider package available to help parents with costs of day to day life. For example, two-year-olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds also receive 15 hours of free childcare, and the introduction of Tax Free Childcare will provide hardworking families with up to £2,000 of support per child per year."
A Government spokesman said: "We are absolutely on the side of hard-working families who want to get on in life. Thanks to Government reforms, the number of children growing up in workless families is at a record low."
The spokesman said ministers wanted "to make high-quality, affordable childcare available for everyone", adding: "This increased offer of free childcare is just part of a wider package available to help parents with costs of day to day life.
"For example, two-year-olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds also receive 15 hours of free childcare, and the introduction of Tax Free Childcare will provide hardworking families with up to £2,000 of support per child per year."
-reprinted from Mirror