The government has admitted its new childcare policy is “no easy task” to roll out, as ministers invited parents to sign up to their flagship plan.
From today, parents are being asked to register for the government’s much-trumpeted scheme that will offer 30 hours of free childcare for under-fives from 2025.
But experts in the field, along with the Labour Party, have warned that a staffing crisis and long-term underfunding mean that the provision will be impossible to roll out as services struggle to recruit and retain workers.
In December, The Independent revealed that thousands of nurseries had shut their doors because of staff shortages, prompting warnings that Jeremy Hunt’s Budget pledge was “doomed to failure”.
Now, writing in The Independent, education secretary Gillian Keegan has defended the policy and insisted it will make a difference: “I know the delivery of this transformation is no easy task, which is why I am pushing ahead with increased funding rates across the country and up to £1,200 for new childminders, knocking down barriers to recruiting and retaining the talented staff that provide such wonderful care for children.”
The MP for Chichester said the government had “committed to the largest ever investment, and biggest ever expansion, in childcare in England’s history” in the last spring Budget.
“Yesterday, that expansion became law – an important step so we can deliver this transformative childcare offer,” the politician added.
Ms Keegan wrote: “Today, sign-up opens for working parents to start applying for the first stage of the new offer – 15 hours of free childcare for two-year-olds. Hundreds of thousands of parents will be eligible, and those who are interested should register between mid-January and the end of February, to take up places from April.”
