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Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said Labor had no intention of continuing the government’s £4 billion plan to expand free childcare.
The scheme, which will provide eligible parents of one- and two-year-olds with 30 hours of free childcare a week by 2025, was first announced by Prime Minister Jeremy Hunt in the Spring 2023 Budget.
However, staffing shortages in the sector have raised concerns about the future of the scheme, with some estimates suggesting around 100,000 additional staff would be needed to meet the additional demands of the proposals.
Mr Phillipson told the BBC last year that Labor would carry out a review of England’s default rules if it won government. news night He said Tuesday that he does not believe the department can provide the additional space needed at this time.
“It’s Liz Truss again. They have no plan for how to make it happen. They risk collapsing the child care system just as they collapsed the economy under Liz Truss.” I think so,” she said.
“We’re hearing from providers that they’re going to have a really hard time making this happen.
“And what we’re hearing from parents across the country is that when they try to access these rights and these promises that the Conservatives have made, there’s simply no place for them.”
She refused to confirm to the program whether Labor would adopt the government’s plan if it won the next election, saying the current plan “works for both providers and parents. It merely added additional promises that it does not appear to have made.” ”.
Currently, working parents with children aged 3 and 4 are entitled to 30 hours of childcare per week, but from April, working parents with children aged 2 and 4 will be entitled to 15 hours of childcare support, and older children will be entitled to 15 hours of childcare support. In the case of children, this increases to 30 hours. From September 2025, it will be under 5 years old.
Last month, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan failed to guarantee that the government’s promise of free childcare for working parents would be delivered on time.
She said she was “confident” that childcare commitments would be met, but insisted she had “no control” over the individual childcare businesses responsible for expanding childcare provision.
“You can never guarantee anything in the future. All you can do is plan everything and react as needed,” she told Sky News.
“We believe that everything we have done so far means that every parent who wants a place will have a place.
“But what you’re asking me to do is personally guarantee something on behalf of the tens of thousands of businesses that are working to expand capacity and retain talent.”