News / Childcare
Childcare crisis laid bare as councillors vote for change
The UK is one of the most expensive countries in the world for childcare and this is having an adverse effect on families across Bristol.
These were the facts laid bare as councillors voted on Tuesday to call for more support for the caring economy in recognition of the challenges many carers and parents face and the importance of early years intervention in improving outcomes.
Among the pledges, councillors called for childcare to be recognised as infrastructure, protection for maintained nurseries, for the council to lobby the government for more funding for nursery provision and ask the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) if it could use its investment fund to offer grants to childcare providers.
is needed now More than ever
Council officers will also be asked to explore allocating community infrastructure levy money, paid by developers, towards the capital costs of new childcare centres or nurseries.
The motion comes in the wake of a campaign by a number of Bristol organisations to highlight inequalities and challenges across the caring economy and call for change.
It was voted through the month before government changes will enable working parents of two-year-olds to access 15 hours of free childcare, which will be extended to parents of children from nine-months-old from September, a move that critics in the sector warn is underfunded and will put nurseries under further financial pressures that will in turn be passed onto parents.
Proposing the motion, Labour councillor for Frome Vale Amal Ali said finding the right kind of childcare can make a crucial difference to children’s lives.
“As a Labour councillor and a mother, I want to play my part in helping Bristol’s children get the best start in life,” said Ali.
“The UK is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet some parents, particularly mothers, who want to return to work after having a child are prevented from doing so because childcare is so expensive they cannot afford it.”
She argued that this was not only wrong, but also counter productive, with parents who work being able to contribute more in taxes that can then pay for essential services.
A Green amendment was also voted through, which included requests to lobby all national party group leaders, rather than just the current government, and call on them to adopt the TUC strategy for the care workforce that includes provision of decent pay and conditions for all in the sector.
Lisa Stone, a Green councillor for Windmill Hill who proposed the amendment, said: “As a general election looms, we must lobby national party leaders to fund the caring economy through financially supporting childcare and adult social care.
“For the Greens, a caring economy is wider than pre-school childcare; carers also care for vulnerable adults and our elders.”
Stone added: “The Green party wants to see a progressive economy where welfare economics is applied to how we measure the success of our society, and how this affects the overall wellbeing of people.”
The motion comes in the wake of a major campaign by a number of Bristol organisations to highlight inequalities and challenges across the caring economy and call for change – photo: Invisible Army
In support of the motion, Lib Dem councillor for Hengrove & Whitchurch Park Tim Kent said: “Access to affordable childcare is a major issue for families and a real barrier to accessing work and a real issue on the economy of our country if we want to see economic growth.”
But the Tory group was not convinced about the amendment, with Steve Smith saying: “We could and would have supported the original Labour motion – we do have some concerns about funding and affordability of some of what’s in it, but fundamentally, it’s a pragmatic motion asking for sensible things to solve a real problem.
“The amendment though takes a sensible motion about childcare and tries to fix the entire social care system with enormous unfunded spending demands and no concept of how this will be met.”
The councillor for Westbury-on-Trym & Henleaze added: “Simply stamping our feet and demanding money is not a solution to a problem.”
The amended motion was carried with 40 voting in favour, 12 against and one abstaining.
Main photo: Colin Moody
Read next:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
