After 113,000 of you signed the Grazia petition with The Juggle and Pregnant Then Screwed for a review of our childcare system, Stella Creasy MP spoke in the Westminster debate you secured. Here, she explains why...
Having kids comes with multiple delights – smears of yogurt on your clothes, sleepless nights, strange smells – and a hefty bill. For many women, their entire wage packet goes on childcare, as they try to maintain a career and caring.
In the last decade, nursery fees for under-fives have risen three times faster than pay. But if it costs so much, why are so many who work in the sector dependent on food banks, and so many nurseries going out of business?
The weekly cost of a nursery place for a single two-year-old is an eye watering £263. Have more than one child, and you need to be in the top 25% of earners to avoid getting into debt if you want to work and need a childminder at the same time.
Yet in an industry where 98% of employees are women, poverty is a way of life: 50% of childcare workers earn less than £17,000 – 43% say they struggle to save £20 a month. In the pandemic, thousands of nurseries went out of business.
The Government found billions for roads and potholes, yet simply offered mums a pat on the back for homeschooling. Women paid the price for this blind spot – 46% of mothers who lost their job said a lack of childcare was a factor in their redundancy.
When it comes to childcare, this Government is always cutting corners. Official documents show the Government deliberately chose not to provide the funding needed to cover the cost of free childcare for three and four-year-olds, making it even harder for nurseries to stay afloat.
The recent Budget didn’t help either. It provided just £2.40 a week for every child– despite the Chancellor finding £3 billion to reduce the cost of beer. Saving our nurseries doesn’t even require new money to be spent.
Currently, the Government is sitting on billions in unspent childcare tax credits. Rather than reinvesting this cash previously earmarked for our kids, they are standing by as places in nurseries become even more scarce and expensive and childminders leave the business.
The consequences of this are clear – children are missing out on a quality early years education, and many women give up their careers, or struggle to balance work and family and feel like they are failing both. It also hurts our economy – Women’s Budget Group research shows free childcare for all kids over six months old would pay for itself because it generates higher tax returns and reduces the welfare bill too.
There is an army of mums out there who are mad as hell that they are being ignored
This hasn’t happened by accident – there is little political will to address childcare costs or even discuss the topic at all. Outside Parliament, campaigners Pregnant Then Screwed and Grazia are raising this issue, leading to September’s Westminster debate on the subject, but it shouldn’t need this activity to make politicians pay attention to an issue that affects every family in the country.
As I said at the debate: ‘There is an army of mums out there who are mad as hell that they are being ignored.’ (I had my then-newborn son with me in a sling as MPs don’t get maternity cover. I’ve since been told that that breaks the rules of Parliament, which are now under review.)
Correcting this oversight means ensuring more mums, especially of young children, have a seat at the decision-making table. In America, the VoteMama project is helping to get mums selected and elected to office at all levels of government.
Here in the UK, in partnership with Pregnant Then Screwed we are launching This Mum Votesto make the case for universal childcare, and help support mums standing for office to campaign for it.
Without an intervention, our children will be grown up, raising their own families and mums will still be locked out of politics. We can’t afford to wait or ask nicely for change any more. Mums everywhere deserve not just to be heard, but to have an equal say.
Stella is the Labour MP for Walthamstow
'Parents Shouldn't Have To Choose Between Their Child And Their Career'