UK early years settings are the most expensive in the world
Recent studies have displayed childcare costs across many different countries and childcare settings in the United Kingdom have come out on top. This may not come as a surprise to many parents who are already paying large childcare bills each month.
Increasing fees have featured heavily on news bulletins as childcare fees in the UK are affecting parents gaining a mortgage and it is thought that these might increase further with the introduction of the new 30 hours funding. These high fees are a frightening prospect for many parents who are hoping to return back to work after having a baby.
Research has revealed that a full time nursery
place for a child under the age of 3 is on average around 34% of a family’s income, this is high compared to other countries such as France whose childcare fees are around only 10% of a family’s income (OECD).
This has led to many questioning why are childcare fees so high in the UK? It is thought that one of the main reasons for this is down to the amount of funding that early year’s settings receive. There are fears that as funding is stretched further to meet the demands of the new thirty hours funding that fees for non-funded children will further increase to make up for the shortfall in the funding . Others believe this is because much of the supports towards childcare fees are going towards those who are from poorer backgrounds meaning there is less support from those who come from a middleclass background leaving them with high childcare costs.
The introduction of the thirty hours free funding for all children who are aged 3 and 4 will help parents with a lot of the costs they face and make working full time a more realistic option. This is available for the majority of parents apart from the incredibly high earning so this supports parents and children regardless of the financial background they have.
Although a step forward for parents many early years settings are concerned the impact this funding will have on the setting. Unfortunately this does little to support children who are below the age of 3 meaning parents are still having to face these high childcare fees.