Childcare in the UK: does it need an overhaul?

Woman's Hour

BBC

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Personal Journals

4.2 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2022

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

According to the OECD, the UK is the third most expensive country for childcare. An estimated 1.7 million women in England are prevented from doing more hours of work by childcare issues, while a UNICEF report this week shows that almost 1 in 5 parents on low incomes are skipping meals to pay for it. On Saturday, 12,000 mums will descend on 11 locations across the UK to demand government reform in a ‘March of the Mummies’ organised by the campaign group Pregnant then Screwed. Its founder Joeli Brearley tells us why. From tax-free childcare to the 30 free hours offer, why do we have the childcare policies that we do? Who are they supposed to target and who really benefits? We discuss with Christine Farquharson, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Megan Jarvie, Head of Family and Childcare at the charity Coram. The number of childcare providers in England has dropped by 4000 between March 2021 and March 2022. A survey of 2,000 early years providers in March found 30% were currently operating at a loss, while 34% said they expected to be in 12 months' time. Meanwhile a 2020 report from the Social Mobility Commission shows that one in eight nursery workers earned less than £5 an hour. To discuss the challenges facing the sector, we speak to Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance and Jennie Bailey, owner of a nursery in Hampshire. What are the opportunities and challenges of employing working parents? Elaine Stern is a mother of three and owner of a marketing and production agency employing 35 workers. She discusses how requests for flexible-working or a lack of accessible affordable childcare can impact on business. How can we arrive at an accessible, affordable, high quality childcare system in the UK? We ask our panel, including Jemima Olchawski CEO of the Fawcett Society, whether government proposals to deregulate the childcare sector will work, how other countries compare to the UK, and whether the sometime conflicting needs of parents, children, providers and employers can be reconciled. Presenter: Elaine Dunkley Producer: Lucy Wai Producer: Kirsty Starkey Interviewed Guest: Joeli Brearly Interviewed Guest: Megan Jarvie Interviewed Guest: Christine Farquharson Interviewed Guest: Jennie Bailey Interviewed Guest: Neil Leitch Interviewed Guest: Elaine Stern Interviewed Guest: Jemime Olchawski

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts
0:05.9	Hi, I'm Elaine Duncley, the BBC's Education Correspondent, welcoming you to today's Woman's
0:11.2	Hour podcast. And this morning on Woman's Hour, we're talking about childcare. It's one of
0:16.5	the biggest issues parents with young children talk to me about. The government is keen to get
0:21.5	more women back to work to grow the economy, but because of the rising cost of childcare,
0:26.4	some women simply can't afford to return to the workplace. For some families,
0:31.2	nursery fees are more than their mortgage. So today we're going to do a deep dive into the issue.
0:37.0	We'll be speaking with parents who've had to give up work. We'll also be talking about the
0:40.9	nursery's closing due to financial pressures and the low pay and increasing responsibilities for staff.
0:46.9	Why do we have one of the most expensive childcare systems in the developed world? And which countries
0:52.4	could we follow to provide affordable, flexible childcare? And we'd like to hear from you.
0:57.7	What's the one thing that would make a difference for you? You can text the programme, the number is
1:02.2	84844. Text will be charged at your standard message rate on social media, we're at Woman's
1:08.2	Hour. And you can email us through our website. You can now send a WhatsApp message or a voice note
1:13.4	using the number 03700 1444 data charges may apply depending on your provider. You can now
1:21.4	say you can, so you might want to get in touch with us using Wi-Fi if you can. Terms and conditions
1:26.1	can be found on our website. According to the OECD, the UK is one of the top three most expensive
1:34.7	countries for childcare. An estimated 1.7 million women in England are prevented from doing more
1:40.5	hours of work by childcare issues. While the UNICEF report this week shows that almost one in five
1:46.1	parents on low incomes are skipping meals to pay for it. On Saturday, 12,000 parents will descend
1:52.4	on 11 locations across the UK to demand government reform. In a march of the mummies organised by
1:59.0	the campaign group, Pregnant then Scrood. I'm joined by its founder, Jolie Brieley, to discuss why.
	...

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