The Labour party has pledged to create 100,000 additional childcare places and 3,300 new nurseries if it wins the election.
Funding for its childcare plans will come from its plan to remove tax breaks from private schools and charge them 20% VAT.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the party, if elected, would “create the childcare places needed to turn the page, and rebuild Britain”.
The Conservative government is currently in the middle of rolling out an expansion to its free childcare scheme, with a view to offering 30 free hours of childcare per week by September 2025.
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However, the plan has been dogged by recruitment challenges, with estimates suggesting the sector would need 40,000 more staff if the government is to fulfil its pledge.
Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “The 3,300 new nurseries we announce today will be key to delivering Labour’s mission for half a million more children to hit the early learning goals by 2030, giving them the firm foundations from which to succeed.”
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak welcomed the announcement but questioned where the places would come from.
“Every family should have access to high quality and affordable childcare. But the supply that’s needed just isn’t there, with lots of families stuck in childcare deserts,” he said.
“Many parents– especially women – have to cut working hours or stop altogether for lack of childcare. And it leaves many children without access to high-quality care and education.
“These plans would be a welcome step towards the reform that’s desperately needed, transforming the quality of life of many families.”
Sarah Ronan, director of the Early Education and Childcare Coalition, said the plans needed a solid recruitment strategy to work: “Labour’s commitment to increasing the number of places is the right one, however if you boost places you have to also boost staff numbers, so underpinning its plan for reform must be a new workforce strategy that will attract more people into the sector and see early years professionals receive the pay, conditions and respect they deserve,” she said.
The party has already pledged to commit to the existing plans to expand free childcare hours and said it would convert thousands of classrooms in existing primary schools to accommodate extra places. There is spare capacity in primaries due to falling birth rates.
Equality charity The Fawcett Society welcomed a review of the sector. “We are also pleased that they have heeded our calls for more of a market-shaping role for local government and more financial transparency for the big providers.
“We need to see childcare given the prominence it deserves in every party’s manifesto and we need to see genuine, long-term commitments that last beyond this election. If we don’t, women will lose out and parties will lose votes.”
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