MLA Kate Nicholl with daughter Étaín Group 28 Get the latest nostalgia features and photo stories from Belfast Nostalgia straight to your inbox Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up No thanks, close We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. More info Group 28 Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show Me No thanks, close See our Privacy Notice As I sat listening to the Spring Budget, I felt genuine happiness for all the parents and campaigners who fought so hard to put childcare top of the Westminster political agenda. I also felt deflated - particularly as the hopeful messages started to ping through from constituents and
Friends to see if this announcement was good for them. No, I responded, with the exception of improvements to Universal Credit, parents in Northern
Ireland cannot access free childcare like the rest of the
UK. It felt cruel to add: and in the absence of an Assembly, we are unlikely to see any significant change soon. READ MORE: Consumer expert Alice Beer shares her top money saving tips for savvy shoppers One of the reasons I ran for the Assembly was to try and help fix our broken childcare system. As Lord Mayor of Belfast I would visit women’s groups and hear how the lack of flexible childcare was a barrier to
Women gaining skills and employment opportunities. I met exhausted grandparents who were doing what they could to ease the burden of their children’s extortionate childcare bills. I spoke to friends with kids whose “mum guilt” was exacerbated by the fact that they weren’t earning enough to justify childcare - but resented the prospect of stalling their careers. I saw that childcare was not just a gender issue or a class issue but that it was glaringly an economic issue. And I saw that if politicians really want to make a difference then we have to be brave, but we also have to be honest about the reality of the situation. So here’s the honesty: there is no quick fix. The 30 free hours model in
England does not deliver for everyone. If providers can afford to keep their doors open, and many can’t, then they often have to offset costs elsewhere. Skilled staff are not being paid enough and so leave the profession for better paid jobs elsewhere. There’s no point in being given 30 free hours of childcare if it doesn’t reduce the cost or if you can’t use them anywhere. So as tempting as it is to reach for a soundbite policy which you can sell on the doors or fit in a tidy tweet – the truth is the 30 hours model is not working there, while our current system is certainly not working here – so what we need is bravery. Bravery and an overhaul. Prioritising childcare reform shouldn’t be controversial. When you start viewing childcare as key economic infrastructure, you see how it only makes sense to invest in it properly. We know parents – mainly women – are being forced out of the
Labour market, this reduces tax take, impacts productivity and increases welfare spend. The Women’s Budget Group estimate there are 1.7million women who are prevented from taking on more paid work because of childcare, they believe providing universal childcare could boost the
economy by £28 billion. It is hard to see any benefits to our system, but there is one: we have the opportunity to design a system that will work. We urgently need the Assembly up and running so we can deliver a fully costed childcare strategy and start to put in place measures which will give people what they deserve: affordable, flexible, and high-quality childcare. These are conditions which should be attached to subsidising providers directly, including paying staff decent salaries. We do not talk about how some of the most important, precious work is done by staff who are on poverty wages. During a recent conversation with a charity which campaigns for childcare, they discussed how they would like to see childcare professionals referred to as Early Years professionals and for them to receive the same pay as Primary School teachers. I want to have these discussions. I want to debate the models of other countries. I want to scrutinise fully costed models. I want us to innovate and reform our childcare system. For all of this we need an Assembly, and we need to work together to reduce the burden of impossible choices parents face, value the childcare sector and most importantly ensure all children are given the best start to life. They deserve nothing less. READ NEXT: Full breakdown of areas of NI getting Cost of Living payments in spring How food prices compare at four supermarkets in
Northern Ireland PSNI warning as energy payment scam text circulating in NI When Cost of Living payments will be paid this year for people on benefits For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here. Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Follow BelfastLive
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