Can I afford to work? Can I afford not to work? Can I find someone to look after my child while I’m at work? These are some of the basic questions that parents, and we’re talking about mostly mothers, need answers to when considering how much paid work to take on.
Childcare is one of the few areas where government actions can genuinely empower the decisions parents make about how they manage family life.
But too often, parents find that their ‘choice’ about work is often decided for them because they can’t afford or find the childcare they need. Our complex childcare funding system means that some families find that they can’t afford not to work, whereas others find that they can’t afford to work. While there is government funding out there to help families, it is complicated and sometimes poorly targeted meaning many slip through the net.
This is a missed opportunity. A well-functioning childcare system could help support families and help government achieve many of their aims. It would support women to enter and progress in the workplace, tackling the gender pay gap that opens up after the arrival of children. There is evidence that Government could recoup 95% of spend on childcare through additional tax income.
High quality childcare is also great for children’s development and can narrow the achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their peers. For school age children, it can give them the chance to take part in some of the extra curriculum activities that disadvantaged children often miss out on. For younger children, parents often talk about their children learning the vital life skills of playing together and taking turns – as well as tidying up their toys!
So this begs the question: why on earth hasn’t the Government taken action already? Perhaps the government views childcare as a functioning market that needs only limited intervention. Government funding subsidises costs to make it more affordable for parents but does not shape the market so that it truly meets the needs of all children and families.
But nurturing and caring for our children is not just a commodity. It is a social good that helps children to learn and thrive. It is part of our infrastructure that allows parents to go out to work. Treating childcare like something we buy and sell on a price comparison website means that it can’t fulfil its potential to change the lives of both children and parents. Instead, we end up with a system where childcare professionals are underpaid, quality is not a top priority, and where parents can face astronomical prices.
Most concerning of all, we see a system that serves some children better than others. Every year our research finds that there is simply not enough childcare available for disabled children or where parents work outside the typical 9 to 5. For many families, this market driven approach doesn’t work - and they will continue to miss out unless the system changes.
A different approach is possible. We could see childcare and early education treated more like our school system, recognising the role that skilled childcare professionals play in supporting children’s learning. Government could fund the businesses, schools and charities running childcare to provide consistently high-quality care, staffed by professionals paid a decent salary and with the training and experience to offer children a fun, safe and nurturing learning environment. Parents could find that their bills matched what they could afford, based on their earnings.
This approach would be more expensive than the current system, but it would be better value for money. It would tackle the unfair lottery that currently exists which leaves some mothers with few choices about whether or how much to work. It would be a system that benefitted children and reduced the pressure on schools to support disadvantaged children to catch up. Put simply, it is an effective and cost-effective way to achieve Government aims and better outcomes for women and families.
Megan Jarvie is Head of Coram Family and Childcare.