PM urged to give families support
BORIS JOHNSON is being warned the “perfect storm” of rising childcare costs and closing nurseries is making it “impossible” for parents to return to work.
Labour is calling on the Prime Minister to urgently provide the childcare sector with “targeted support” to prevent nurseries shutting during the coronavirus crisis.
Nearly one in four childcare providers in England is at risk of closure in the next year, according to analysis from the Early Years Alliance childcare charity.
According to Labour analysis, costs of nurseries and childminders have risen around three times as fast as wages since the Tories took power in 2010.
Shadow education secretary Kate Green said: “The Conservatives have created a perfect storm for working parents across the country, with a crisis in the childcare sector locking children out of early education and making it impossible for many parents to return to work. Ordering parents back to work without allowing them to access the childcare they need is a stark reminder that Boris Johnson is completely out of touch with the needs of working families.”
The warning comes as Mr Johnson encourages people to return to their workplaces if it is safe to do so to boost the economy after months of lockdown.
Nurseries closed their doors in March along with many businesses to slow the spread of Covid-19 and only remained open to vulnerable youngsters and the children of key workers.
But childcare providers have issued warnings over their financial viability, with rising costs and reduced capacity due to the pandemic.
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association charity, said greater funding is needed as the situation is “clearly not sustainable”.
She said: “Since lockdown, nurseries have also had to absorb additional operating costs such as installing more handwashing stations and extra cleaning. But as costs have increased, their income has dropped due to low numbers of children.
“The Government has given most local authorities an extra 8p this year per hour per child, but this won’t even cover inflation, let alone take account of above-inflation national minimum and living wage rises.”
Meanwhile, health leaders have “very high” levels of concern about the possibility of a second spike in coronavirus cases, one expert has said.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said that the combination of a spike of cases with “exhausted staff” while the NHS tries to rebuild services could prove “challenging”.
He told the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus: “I would say in relation to the second spike issue or something coming, the levels of concern among our members – the people who are leading NHS trusts, who are leading in primary care and all levels in the systems – is very high.”