FAMILY
The Conservative party has prided itself on being the party of family, ensuring that every child has the best start in life regardless of their background. Supporting families isn’t just the right thing to do, but it enriches our society by creating thriving communities. Families in Britain today face big challenges - expensive childcare, distance from family members, and the rising cost of living.
The cost of raising a child now totals over £150,000 for a couple and over £200,000 for a lone parent. Sending a child to nursery now totals over £13,000 a year on average, akin to the cost of private school fees - something which only 7% of the population choose for their child. Having children is an increasingly daunting prospect, making many reconsider whether to start a family or have another child.
Robert Courts MP, Witney
It is clear that the Conservative Party need to deliver a drastically better deal for the younger generation. Taxation in the UK has become a worrying wealth transfer from young to old. None of this is in keeping with the traditions of the Conservative Party, which should champion individualism, small government, low taxes, but – most importantly – reward ambition.
Capitalism relies heavily on access to capital. Yet the younger generation are being stripped of their capital, leaving them with no stake in the system. Income is being swallowed by an ever-growing state; exorbitant house prices prevent many accessing the housing ladder; slow wage growth and marginal tax rates mean that hard work does not provide the reward it should. Young people are right to ask what they are getting back from the current system. We cannot expect capitalists without capital.
We must incentivise the younger generation to work hard: not punish them for doing so. It is not just unfair, but a drag anchor on productivity which results in a self-imposed barrier to growth. We must urgently offer hope to the younger generation. Doing so would not only benefit the young but would supercharge growth delivering greater prosperity to the entire country in the process.
Childcare has become an increasingly large component of this cost, for any parents who want to have the opportunity to work and who are not fortunate enough to have unpaid family care available. We need to support and encourage families to start and grow. A decline in fertility rates leads to an ageing population, as there are fewer young people to replace the ageing workforce. This can put pressure on the economy, healthcare, and social security systems, as fewer workers are available to support the growing number of retirees.
Childcare in the UK is among the most expensive in the world, with many families either spending a significant proportion of their income on care for their children, or losing out on potential income as a result of being unable to work the hours they would like to. Reforms to make childcare more widely accessible make both electoral and economic sense, allowing families the breathing space they need.
The organisation Pregnant then Screwed found that 57% of parents report having to reduce their hours and their earnings because of childcare bills. This isn’t through wanting to work less, as just half of all parents (56.3%) of parents of a child under five feel they have all of the childcare that they need. For parents who can pay, availability remains a major issue. A quarter of parents (22.9%) have said that there were no childcare places available to them within a 10-mile radius of where they live. For 50% of parents who do not have all the childcare they would like, availability is the blame.
This is a productivity and growth issue, as well as leading to a lack of early childhood education and development opportunities. Bold action can be delivered upon quickly, and must be a priority for the government.
Most parents currently receive 15 hours free childcare for those over the age of two, but the scheme is underfunded, meaning providers typically make up the shortfall by charging more for younger children. The shortage of places means increased demand, driving up prices as families are forced to compete for places.
A plan to fix our childcare system must include significant supply side financial investment alongside structural reforms. Enabling a greater range of choice for families would create more affordable options. For example, shifting the rules around the number of children an adult can look after to be in line with Scotland would lower costs, and allowing informal providers - such as childminders - to work from places other than their own home would help, in part, to address some of the supply issues parents currently face when trying to find a childcare.
We must also acknowledge how families have changed in recent decades. The time when families could rely on grandparents for a significant amount of childcare is passing. The average age someone becomes a grandparent is now 50 for women, and 53 for men. With the state pension age rising to 67 over the coming decade, many grandchildren will be teenagers before their grandparents are retired. Families increasingly live in different parts of the country as people move for work, or meet their other half from a different part of Britain. This is compounded by high house prices in areas where families want to live, creating ageing towns and younger cities.
Grandparents undoubtedly play an important role in informal childcare - and the benefits to developmental behaviour are clear. However, the government needs to enable more formal structures of childcare to thrive in order to truly solve the childcare crisis in Britain today. It isn’t good enough for parents, or grandparents to put their careers on hold, or abandon them altogether because of the extortionate cost of childcare.
Reform to childcare and strengthening families is an area where the Conservative government has the potential to make a meaningful and tangible difference before the next election. By taking steps to both increase funding and reform the system, the Conservative Party can show we are delivering for our next generation of voters, demonstrating we are on their side. Reform will boost the productivity and growth the UK so desperately needs.
