Election manifestos: News for parents with childcare costs

Support for childcare and early years education is shaping up to be a major issue in this election with Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives promising extra provisions to offer parents greater financial support. 

Myron Jobson, Personal Finance Campaigner, interactive investor, says: “The good news – so long as politicians keep at least some of their promises – is that whatever political landscape we end up with, childcare costs might actually come down.

“The cost of childcare remains a thorny issue for parents, many of whom pay nursery costs that far outstrip their monthly mortgage repayments. The average monthly payment on a mortgage in the 2017-2018 tax year was £678.17 a month in the UK, according to the ONS – almost half the cost of 50 hours of nursery provision for a child under 2 (£1048.67 a month, according to the Money Advice Service). 

“interactive investor’s Great British Retirement Survey of 10,000 consumers found that parents are more likely to have outstanding loans and credit card bills than those without children (19% versus 16%) and are less likely to retire before age 60 (19% compared to 25%). So any measures that help ease the financial burden of childcare is to be welcomed – although costing these is another matter entirely.

“The Tories have pledged to create a £1 billion fund to bolster existing provisions as well as affordable childcare before and after school and during the school holidays. Both Labour and the Lib Dems are promising a boost to free ‘high quality’ early years care and each are looking to invest in better special educational needs provision. 

“Interestingly, Labour plan to introduce a national pay scale for nursery staff, ‘driving up pay for the overwhelmingly female workforce’. In fact in the manifesto ‘bingo’ game, ‘women’ are referenced 35 times by Labour, compared to 16 times by the Conservatives and 10 times by the Liberal Democrats.”