Our new comparison of childcare across six countries

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** Whilst the other countries innovate on childcare,
England is left behind
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The Fawcett Society has today published a new report, Childcare and early education systems: A comparative literature review of liberal welfare states, showing that, compared to five other liberal welfare states with similar government systems – Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and Switzerland – England’s childcare falls short in affordability, quality, and levels of public spending.

We explored childcare in each of the six countries, offering an in-depth review of each country’s childcare system and its relationship to women’s labour market and child development outcomes. We draw cross-country comparisons and identify creative and unique solutions seen elsewhere, providing starting points for reform in England.
Read the full report ([link removed])
Yesterday, the Government announced a package of measures that are intended to reduce childcare costs and increase support for parents - but it does not go far enough to make the urgent change needed to revolutionise our child provision and increase affordability.

➡️ Our CEO, Jemima Olchawski responds here ([link removed]) .

Our key findings 📝

✅ Other countries are innovating and reforming their childcare systems, partly in response to the pandemic – whilst England has not done so since 2017.

✅ Childcare fees are highest in the UK, at 31% of household income for a low-income, two-parent household.

✅ Affordable childcare increases women's labour market participation significantly (which can in turn, reduce the gender pay gap).

✅ Valuing the childcare workforce, including high staff qualification levels and good child-staff ratios, produces better outcomes for children.

For England to have a world-class childcare system that benefits both parents and children, reforms are urgently needed to address quality, affordability and the pay and professional development of the early years workforce. Our report includes key recommendations for reforms that will allow parents to work and children to build the foundations for their future.

You, our wonderful supporters, can share our research findings with your networks and connections by using our digital toolkit available here ([link removed]) .
We are very grateful to the Professional Association for Childcare and Early years (PACEY) and the Pavers Foundation who generously sponsored this research.
In solidarity,
The Fawcett Team 💜

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