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Liberal Democrats back plans for 20 hours of free childcare

Sun, 08 Mar 2009

The Liberal Democrat Spring Conference today backed plans to give all families 20 hours of free, high quality childcare as well as allowing fathers to take up to one year of paternity leave.

The proposals include: 

• Providing 20 hours of free, good quality childcare a week from 18 months to five years old
• Ensuring all childcare workers are qualified to a minimum level
• Improving the quality of childcare by expanding the role of children's centres as training institutions
• Providing 19 months paternity leave, shared between both parents making it easier for fathers to play a fuller role

 
Commenting, Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park, Susan Kramer said:
 
"Finding childcare that fits around their family's needs can be a real struggle for parents, and the need for flexible and affordable childcare has never been more urgent.
 
"The Liberal Democrats are committed to giving all children the best start in life, and to providing families with the help they need to organise their busy lives.
 
"That's why we would allow parents to share 19 months paternity leave, and provide free, good quality childcare for all toddlers over 18 months."
 
TEXT OF THE MOTION AS PASSED

F19 The Best Start for Children, the Best Deal for Families (Childcare Policy Paper)
Mover: Susan Kramer MP
Summation: Danny Alexander MP (Vice Chair, Federal Policy Committee)
 
Conference regrets that families in Britain today often struggle to balance work and family life, and that fathers currently have limited leave opportunities to form a relationship with their newborn children.
 
Conference recognises that many parents would welcome the opportunity to work part-time, but that the complicated system of working tax credits and the minimal early years provision (12.5 hrs a week for 3 and 4 year-olds only) can make this an unattractive option.
 
Conference notes the difficulties parents face in finding good quality childcare which is affordable and available flexibly, with costs rising by over 5% between 2007 and 2008.
Conference therefore endorses Policy Paper 88, The Best Start for Children, the Best Deal for Families, as a statement of party policies on parental leave and early years education and childcare, building on the ideas in Policy Paper 72, Stronger Families, Brighter Futures, and replacing all previous policy on parental leave.
 
Conference welcomes the recommendation that for the first time, support should be available for caring for children, right through from birth up to the start of school, with proposals to: 
A. Provide nineteen months of shared parental leave to new parents.
B. Extend the current early years entitlement to all children from eighteen months up to the start of school, for up to twenty hours a week.
C. Focus efforts on improving the quality of childcare.
In establishing nineteen months of parental leave for new parents, Conference in particular calls
for:
i) The current system of up to twelve months maternity and two weeks paternity leave to be replaced with nineteen months of parental leave, shared between the parents, making it easier for fathers to play a fuller role.
ii) All parents on parental leave to receive Statutory Parental Pay (SPP) at the level of the current statutory maternity/paternity pay, with a right to return to their old job.
iii) No parent to be entitled to take more than one year of paid parental leave, ensuring each parent has the option to take at least seven months.
iv) Single parents to be entitled to SPP payments for the full nineteen months, with the special provision that after twelve months they could return to work and still receive the money - to assist with childcare costs.
 
In extending the early years entitlement, Conference in particular calls for:
a) Up to twenty hours per week of early years enriched childcare to be provided to each child over eighteen months whose parents request it, regardless of the working status of the parents.
b) This childcare entitlement to be available as flexibly as possible, to suit the needs of the individual family, enabling parents to work part or full time or return to education and
training.
c) This childcare to be properly funded, ensuring sufficient direct funding for providers which is truly free to parents at the point of use.
d) The twenty hours of free childcare to be supplied by any provider who was suitably qualified and registered, including nurseries, childminders and nannies.
e) The role of Children's Centres to be expanded to provide more outreach to families who find it hard to access services, ensuring that all children have the opportunity to use the early years entitlement.
f)  The provision of appropriate transport to compensate for the lack of local transport in rural areas, which seriously hinders the ability of rurally remote families to access childcare opportunities.
 
In ensuring that provision is of the highest quality, Conference in particular calls for:
1. A general upskilling of the workforce, with the aim that every group is led by a suitably qualified graduate and that all staff are qualified to a minimum of NVQ Level 3.
2. Existing maintained nursery schools and Children's Centres to be developed as examples of leading practice, encouraging them to function as hubs to train and spread best practice amongst the early years workforce.
3. Childcare workers to be trained in Special Educational Needs (SEN) to ensure learning difficulties are identified and addressed at an early stage.
4. Childcare workers to be trained in disability equality and the specific skills needed to support disabled children, and for facilities to be adapted as appropriate, to ensure that the twenty hours per week entitlement is fully accessible to disabled children.