Childcare costs have shot up by 80% as Tories accused of 'failing' parents

19 February 2024 , 22:30

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A typical family is paying more than £5,500 a year for part-time childcare during term-time (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Childcare costs have shot up by 80% under the Tories, damning research reveals.

Labour has accused the Conservatives of “failing” parents after leaving them thousands of pounds worse off since they came to power 14 years ago. According to the party’s analysis, the average cost of a part-time nursery place is now about £146 a week, 80% more than the £82 it cost in 2010.

It means a typical family is paying more than £5,500 a year for part-time childcare during term-time, an increase of £2,400 compared with 2010. Since 2017 alone, the average annual cost has increased by around £1,200. Labour said childcare costs had risen a third faster than inflation.

Ministers announced last March that eligible families of children as young as nine months would be able to claim 30 hours of free childcare a week by 2025. As part of a staggered rollout of the policy, working parents of two-year-olds would be able to access 15 hours of funded childcare from April.

This would be extended to working parents of all children older than nine months from September. From September 2025, working parents of children under five would be entitled to 30 hours of funded childcare per week.

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But nurseries, pre-schools and childminders have since been inundated with calls and staff shortages and a lack of availability means parents are being put on long wait lists and could miss out on their preferred nursery or childminder.

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Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said families in England were being “sold a shoddy plan” as she slammed sky-high childcare costs. "Families are forking out thousands of pounds for childcare, all the while being sold a shoddy plan by a Conservative Government that hasn't the first clue of how to deliver it,” she said.

"Families deserve so much better, which is why Labour has commissioned a full, expert-led early years review to examine how we expand access to the flexible childcare that meets families' needs without breaking their finances. The choice couldn't be starker. A clapped out Tory Government that has failed families for 14 years, or a Labour Party that is ready to reform childcare so it’s accessible for families right across the country."

Labour has commissioned an expert Early Years Review to find new ways to improve childcare provision across the country. In October, the party announced that Sir David Bell, former permanent secretary at the Department for Education and former chief inspector of schools, would lead the review.

Sophie Huskisson