Childcare is back in the news. This week, Children and Families Minister Claire Coutinho wrote to landlords, developers and housing associations urging them to allow childminders on their properties. This is likely well-intentioned — but, as I wrote on ConservativeHome this week, our childcare woes go much deeper.
The cost of childcare in the United Kingdom is incredibly high when compared to other developed countries, and is a significant contributor to the cost of living crisis. In what can only be described as a devastating burden on parenthood, the cost of putting an under-two-year-old in full time care has risen by 171% since 2000.
One reason for the higher cost is the lack of childminders. The number of registered childminders has fallen from over 100,000 in the mid-1990s, to less than 30,000 today. But this has pretty much nothing to do with landlords. In the first instance, it is because of greater competition from nurseries, which have significantly expanded over recent years. The primary culprit, however, is the heavy hand of regulation.
Central government and local authorities have increased onerous requirements on the home environment. The Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework, introduced in the Childcare Act 2006, lays down a detailed specification for the ‘learning, development and care’ of children up until the age of 5.
All regulated early years care providers — including preschools, nurseries, reception classes, and of course, childminders — are required to follow the prescriptive EYFS. This, along with requirements such as child-to-carer ratios and more advanced qualifications, substantially pushes up the complexity and cost of delivering childcare. It is regulation that has led to a mass exit from the childminder sector — not landlords.
The higher cost has led to demands for subsidies, most recently the government announced 15-30 hours of ‘free’ taxpayer-funded childcare. Putting the tremendous cost to the public purse aside, it is unlikely to be effective. It is poorly targeted, meaning that the main beneficiaries will be middle class families. But more fundamentally, it won’t make it any easier to actually deliver childcare at a lower cost.
If we want to reduce the cost of childcare, more radical supply side reforms are necessary.
