Fight for flexible, free childcare

Corinthia Ward, Birmingham North Socialist Party

At a time of record high job vacancies in the UK, reaching more than 1 million in August, growing numbers are dropping out of work to meet caring responsibilities. Of the 1.75 million people having to give up work, 84% are women.

The number of women not working to look after family has risen by 5% in the past year, a reversal of the trend of the last three decades, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

A big factor in women dropping out of work is the cost of childcare. Against the backdrop of a cost-of-living crisis, on average working parents in England spend 65% of wages on childcare. In London this is even worse, rising to 71%.  The UK has the second most expensive childcare in the world.

The Labour Party has pledged to extend parents’ right to request flexible working from day one of employment, something currently only available after six months, as their answer to tackling the problem. But the right to ‘request’ is different to being ‘entitled to’ flexible working.

Many parents have requests turned down and, of mothers who do work flexibly, 86% report facing discrimination as a result, according to campaign group Pregnant then Screwed. Labour’s policies are woefully inadequate to deal with the issues.

The average cost of full-time nursery fees for a child under the age of two is £274 per week in England, but the average take-home pay of a working adult is £418. Flexi-time is not much use if the cost of childcare is so unaffordable.

The real solution is to demand publicly funded, free, flexible, high-quality nursery and childcare services – under the democratic control of elected committees of parents and childcare workers.

A flexible childcare network should be available from birth and include pre and after-school, and holiday care. To guarantee quality of care, all those working in the childcare sector should be fully qualified and paid a real living wage.

Alongside the right to flexible parental and carers’ leave on full pay, it would massively support families to have a work-life balance which suits them. A shorter working week, with no loss of pay, would allow all parents more quality time with our children.