Childcare, banks and mould. Them & Us

Priced out of parenthood

A survey of new parents, reported in the Guardian, has found that the majority would delay or even forgo having another child due to the extortionate costs of childcare.

The UK is the third most expensive country in the world for childcare. And costs are set to spiral as government funding falls in real terms and energy bills rise.

A group of childcare providers has signed a letter to Rishi Sunak calling for radical changes to government funding. They cite rising labour costs among the causes of their charges rising.

The reality is that most people who work in childcare are extremely low paid, and are often on zero-hour contracts. The average pay for this most important of jobs is only £13 an hour.

The Socialist Party also campaigns for more government funding for childcare. But unlike the childcare bosses, we fight for at least £15-an-hour minimum wage, pay rises that are RPI inflation-proof, and which are fully funded.

But why should that public money be handed over to private providers to make profits? This situation is the result of decades of cuts and privatisation, demanded by Tory and Blairite Labour governments alike. Instead of refusing to make the cuts, Labour councils have meekly carried out closures and privatisation of council-run and workplace nurseries. It was inevitable that would lead to low pay, poor quality, and rising childcare prices.

The Socialist Party fights for all such provision to be reopened and brought back in-house; massively expanded, fully funded and run under democratic control. That is the only way to ensure free, high-quality childcare for all who need it.

That, along with genuinely liveable wages and decent housing, are the prerequisites for people to make real decisions when and whether to have children.

Bigger profits for banks – job losses and closures for us

Britain’s biggest bank HSBC has doubled its quarterly profit to £4.3 billion, as it announced figures for the last three months of 2022. It means profits are up more than 90% from the same time a year earlier.

The astronomical figures have been boosted by rising interest rates.

This comes after HSBC has been shedding jobs in recent years to help cut costs – with more planned this year, including the closure of 114 more branches in the UK. It will mean hundreds of potential job losses and, as Unite the Union puts it, “abandoning customers”.

Chief executive Noel Quinn has hinted at even more job losses in the pipeline too, saying on 21 February: “There will be no easing off at all on costs.”

The bumper profits should be used to save jobs, keep high street stores open, and help ease the cost-of-living crisis for its customers by cutting overdraft and loan interest.

But to guarantee this and the same for other banks, we need to nationalise them to be run under democratic workers’ control, as part of a socialist plan.

Councils must act on damp and mould

More than half of private renters in England asked are living in cold, damp or mouldy homes, a survey by Citizens Advice found. That’s 2.9 million households! And on average someone privately renting will pay £350 more a year on heating because of badly insulated and damp homes.

Cold and damp homes have a direct, adverse impact on people’s health. We need homes that we can live comfortably in and not pay through the roof on rent or energy bills. We need a mass, high-quality council house building programme. These new homes should be fitted with insulation and energy-efficient appliances to keep them damp-free.

Local councils should use their powers to take unsafe housing into public ownership and make them fit to live in. Councillors could do that now, and build a movement involving the unions and local community to demand the resources from the Tory government to do so.