Nine-month-olds now eligible for free childcare even though ministers do not know how many parents will use it
12 May 2024, 00:09
Nine-month-olds are now eligible for free childcare even though ministers don't know how many parents will use it.
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The children's minister has told LBC he's confident there'll be enough places for the government's expanded childcare offer in England even though he doesn't know how many parents will use it.
From today, parents in work who have children older than nine months can apply for 15 hours of funded childcare a week - taking effect in September - saving them an average of £6,900 a year.
Since last month, parents of two-year-olds have been eligible for the same amount.
David Johnston told LBC: "We don't at this point know exactly how many parents will take us up on this because it's a very different age group - taking this down to nine months.
"What we do is work with local authorities on a very regular basis to make sure they have the number of places for childcare they need, in the end the statutory duty is on then but we work with them to support them and make sure they have those places."
The Department for Education says all councils report they're currently meeting demand - but believes a further 15,000 childcare places will be needed in time for the autumn and another 70,000 for next September.
Last month, the National Audit Office warned the expansion of free childcare could affect the quality of provision - because of a rise in "inexperienced" staff and bigger staff-to-child supervision ratios.
Natalie Wright, who's been a childminder for 14 years, previously told LBC she feared there wouldn't be enough places to support the rollout.
She said: "At the moment we've got lots of nurseries around our area that aren't able to recruit and retain the nursery workers - they're finding it very difficult.
"I do worry, it's just so hard. There's a lot of pressure and demand, we're just trying our best to accommodate the needs."
Labour has also accused the government of making pledges on childcare "without a plan".
Mr Johnston told LBC parents should be reassured.
He said "Before we even started the rollout, we saw the number of places go up by 15,000 and the number of staff go up by 13,000 - and that's before all the things we've been doing like a new recruitment campaign, financial incentives in parts of the country and significant increases in pay".
